Kuwait reopens airspace for first time in two months

Flights to and from Kuwait are set to resume on Sunday, two months after the outbreak of war following the US-Israel attack on Iran.

While the airspace reopened last night (Thursday 24 April), commercial flights will not begin until 26 April as part of a “phased plan to gradually resume air traffic in preparation for the airport’s full operation in the coming period”, the country’s civil aviation authority said in a statement on the Kuwait News Agency website.

Kuwait International Airport has been hit several times in recent weeks, with drone attacks on Terminal 1, the under-construction Terminal 2 and fuel storage tanks. The gradual reopening will allow for maintenance and repair works.

National carrier Kuwait Airways and low-cost airline Jazeera Airways have been operating flights out of Dammam in Saudi Arabia, which is around a four to five hour drive away.

Both airlines have said they will continue to operate some flights out of Dammam while operations return to normal.

Kuwait Airways will resume operations to some 17 destinations, including London, Istanbul, Mumbai, Cairo and Manila, while Jazeera Airways will initially reopen routes to nine destinations: Istanbul, Beirut, Damascus, Dubai, Cairo, Amman, Kochi, Mumbai and Delhi.

Currently, no other airlines have announced the resumption of flights to Kuwait.

Airport statuses across the region

The news comes after Hamad International Airport in Doha announced foreign airlines would be allowed to resume operations to the country earlier this week.

Flydubai began operating flights on 21 April, followed by AirArabia on 22 April and Oman Air, Royal Jordanian, Tarco Aviation and US-Bangla Airlines on 23 April. From 26 April, Middle East Airlines will resume flights, as will Himalaya Airlines on 28 April.

Flag carrier Qatar Airways has been operating limited flights since 7 March.

As for the United Arab Emirates, flights restarted on 2 March.

While European carriers including Air France, Lufthansa, KLM and British Airways have all temporarily suspended flights, flag carrier Emirates has resumed nearly 80% of its operations out of Dubai, according to flight tracking website Flightradar24.

Saudi Arabia’s airspace has remained open throughout the crisis, but many flights have been delayed or cancelled. Earlier this month, Virgin Atlantic announced it was scrapping its route to Riyadh from London, just a year after it launched.

Oman’s airspace is also open, although there are some cancellations and delays.

Following the announcement of a ceasefire, Bahrain, Iraq and Israel reopened their airspace on 8 April, while Iran partially reopened its airspace on 18 April.

Read the full article here