Kuwait Airways to spend $2.5bn on new aircraft

Kuwait Airways plans to spend about $2.5bn on 28 new aircraft due to be delivered by 2026, Kuwait Airways chairman Yousef A. M. J. Alsaqer said.

The planes will be financed with bank debt, the airline’s own capital and through the sale and re-leasing of the carrier’s planes, Alsaqer said, declining to disclose how much it will borrow.

“So far we don’t have an agreement with a particular bank or a certain funding body, but everything is planned,” Alsaqer said, adding that Kuwait Airways has already paid installments for the purchase of the aircraft.

He was speaking to reporters on Saturday evening at an event at Kuwait International Airport to mark the arrival of the first new Airbus A320neo jet owned by the company.

The plane is the first of 28 the airline will receive by 2026, including 15 of the A320neo jets at $60m each, eight A330-800 aircraft at $100m each and five A350-900 planes, each priced between $130m and $150m, Alsaqer said.

Alsaqer added that the company hopes to carry five million passengers this year, up from 4.1 million passengers in 2017.