Summary
- Unlike in the past, Kuwait Airways only has one North American route.
- It is to New York JFK, served four times weekly year-round.
- Most passengers connect in Kuwait, with JFK-Dhaka by far the largest market.
Some 11 airlines have non-stop flights between North America and the Middle East. With barely 1% of services, Kuwait Airways ranks last in this sense. And its operation is decreasing, too. While it had previously anticipated flying to New York JFK five times weekly in the winter, partly to capitalize on higher demand to/from South Asia, it will now be just four – the same as in the summer.
Kuwait Airways to North America
The Kuwaiti operator has flown to the continent for decades. While Kuwait-JFK non-stop flights have existed for years, they coexisted with one-stop services with fifth-freedom traffic rights until 2016. Its business class pricing was typically among the lowest available.
Photo: The Global Guy | Shutterstock
Let’s look at the period since 1990. Kuwait Airways served the Big Apple via Frankfurt until 2001 and London Heathrow until 2016. Over the years, the two routes used the A340 and 777, along with the 747 and 767 in the 1990s. The carrier even flew Kuwait-Amsterdam-Chicago O’Hare using the A340 until 2004. It switched to operating via Geneva until the route ended in 2005.
What about from 2019?
Between 2019 and 2024, Kuwait Airways has deployed three types on its sole North American route to JFK: the 777-300ER, the rare A330-800 (in 2023 only; shown below), and even the A330-200 (on a handful of flights in 2021/2022).
When the A330-800 operated, it was the unpopular type’s only US route and the longest non-stop A330-800 service globally. It represented a big downgauge on Kuwait-JFK, with 99 fewer seats per departure (-30%) versus the 777-300ER, with no first class available. Part of the purpose was to substantially reduce trip costs compared to the 777 while improving loads and yields with far fewer seats to sell.
From what I can determine, Kuwait Airways’ A330-800s don’t have crew rest areas, so some business class seats would not have been sold, reducing financial performance. An inability to carry a full payload, at least at certain times of the year, would have compounded it. Neither headwinds to JFK nor Kuwait’s scorching summer temperatures would have helped, the latter somewhat offset by leaving early in the morning.
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What does it have now?
Now operating four times weekly year-round, rather than five weekly in the winter, the 5,520 nautical miles (10,223 km) route is exclusively in the hands of the 777-300ER. It has 10 of them, each with 334 seats. There are eight first class seats, 36 in business, 54 in premium economy, and 236 in economy.
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying
JFK’s July and November schedules are as follows, with all times local:
- Kuwait to JFK: July: 07:30-14:00 (13h 30m); November: 09:00-14:20 (13h 20m)
- JFK to Kuwait: July: 17:00-12:15+1 (12h 15m); November: 17:00-13:00+1 (12h)
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The airports have between two and six-weekly twin-aisle services.
Where Kuwait Airways passengers go
According to US DOT T-100 data, Kuwait Airways carried 169,000 roundtrip JFK passengers in 2023. Booking information suggests that fewer than one in 10 passengers were point-to-point, i.e., they only flew between Kuwait and the Big Apple.
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying
Unsurprisingly, most passengers transited in the Middle East. JFK-South Asia was vital, taking eight of the top 10 origins and destinations. JFK-Dhaka was very much the most popular market, followed by Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Dubai, Jeddah, Kochi, Lahore, Kathmandu, and Islamabad.