Kuwait Airways

[regor]

Heard a rumour today that Kuwait Airways have a preliminary agreement with Airbus, for new A330 & A340's and up to 11 short haul A/C comprising of a mixed A320/321 fleet.

Does anyone have any further info' on this?

[newswatcher]

It would be interesting to know how they would be financing this.

The Kuwaiti Government has requested an inquiry into possible bribery and corruption, after it was found that the airline's accumulated losses have reached some USD 500m.

[Rabbit]

The chances of Kuwait Airways getting new aircraft in the forseeable future is simply impossible. Anything that requires money at the moment is simply not going to happen. The financial situation is not good. Now if someone said here is some aircraft and you don't have to pay, thats another question but how likely is that.

Unfortunately the Company suffers from a government imposed overstaffing situation, too many aircraft types and very poor quality currupt management.

Have a nice day

[Paladini]

Too many aircraft types!! Hallelujah!!! The best solution would be for them to sh*tc*n the "Toulouse Trash-Heaps" and buy more Boeings. At least with the B747s, they wouldn't have had to cancel TWO, count-em, TWO AMS-ORD flights last week.

Made a lot of sense to sell the their two Classics to ALAFCO, then decimate the cockpit crew. Understand, they've not turned a wheel on the 742 because the Senior KAC pilot ran out of IR currency, while the ONLY guy who could check him ran out of medical, and ALL the other Captains have either resigned or are on sick leave...

TSK, TSK

"There are a hell of a lotta things they didn't tell me when I joined this outfit!"

Where's Jerry when you need him?

[frequenttraveller]

Hi there.
I'd like to share my experience while travelling with KAC.On the 10th of March I was travelling on a flight KU 542 CAAi-KWI. First of all the flight was delaied but as I've heard it's something happening very often especially with KAC.The A/C grooming was "second to none"...The seats was without headrest covers (something I am seeing for the first time) but that's not all....
On board I was welcomed by two nice, smiling air hostess (by the way they were the only smiling crew onboard).During the flight we've been offered meal and beverages.The two air hostess kept smiling but even though some of the PAX (especially arab ones) was extremely rude...Due to a turbulence tea and coffee service was cancelled and the girls tried to explain this to PAX but instead they've got yelled at..Some of the PAX was threating to complain and was answering the girls things like "shut your mouth" or "move".....On landing, as soon as the A/C touched down a youngster stood up intending to go to WC.One of the Air Hostess was telling him to go back to his seat as it wasn't safety wise for him to move in the cabin yet but instead of listening he just make a gesture of "touching his head with a finger" or in other words he was telling her "YOU ARE NOT ALL THERE" and entered the WC.The next thing I saw was the girl talking to someone who was supossed to be a senior crew aand explaining how if such thing happens in Europe this PAX will be suited for not complaining with the Cabin Crew instruction but isntead of taking it seriously he started making fun of it by telling to all his collegues.....So...why are the KAC C?C onboard?For safety or just for the "chicken-beef" part?And if for safety why no one cares if the PAX comply with their instruction or not????

[tb10er]

I have flown with KAC on several occasions and found them to be very good.

I have also flown to KWI many times with different european carriers. Unortunately, there seems to be an arrogance with some (most are great) pax to/from KWI. The same arrogaance also extends to banks, restaurants, supermarkets, etc.

[maria1605]

Hi Guys.


I am working as air hostess with KAC and I would say that FREQUENTTRAVELLER is right in 90 % of what he/she is saying.I could say that KAC much attention on safety in words but when it comes to doing things on board they the attention is transfered into service and in many ocassion the crew is not able to get the PAx to comply with their instructions...Sales on board is going on till the last minute or water and juice are served while checking the cabin for landing just because the PAx is a friend of tha Captain and is threatening to "report you" which sometime makes the crew going through writing groundless explanations and been given "warnings" without reasonable ground for it....And after the "extra miles" crew is having to go to satissfy the PAX EK and Qatar Airways are much ahead of us....I am really sorry to say that but this is the true picture from inside.....

[q80airbus]

after q8 gov announced that it will invest in aviation sector with 6bn$ a large chunk of this is going into kac with boeing jumping into an offer of up to 30 a/c all of B787 multiple versions leading towards a single fleet the strongest rumer that the deal is finalised under one of the major leasing companys ...........:hmm:

[q80airbus]

as per sec of transport couple of days a go said that the cabint of minsters of kuwait had an emergancy meeting with kac higher managment in an effort to crack down on kuwait airways downward image that ended up in such an unprecedented incedent at rak and as per close sources kac got a warning from the govt to get every thing in order other wise heads will roll :ok: :)

[akerosid]

I thought the crew did a pretty good job at RAK; what was the authorities' problem?

I guess the one thing that probably annoys Kuwaitis is that while it hasn't really moved on that far over the past decade or so, the likes of QR, EY etc have grown in leaps and bounds.

I did, however, read rumours about misbehaviour of a Kuwait Airways VIP crew (A310/744?).

[fantom]

Obviously, none of you knows about the KAC mind-set.
One has to have worked there to understand it.
PFM.

[Hanslope]

Care to elaborate some more Fantom?

KU are one of my customers and I often visit them. Always very pleasant and courteous when I am there. Terribly slow to make decisions, heavily bureaucratic.

Would be interested to hear more of life on the inside

[faheel]

I spent 5 years there. Kuwaiti's used to treat it as their own flying club.
Expats definately treated as 2nd class citizens ie I remember when the locals went on strike for 1 day and subsequently got a nice pay rise.
Expats told that they would get one as well, never did in the next 3 years that I was there.
Reason given was that the local pay rise was give as a part of the Kuwaiti social allowance and as such expats were not entitled to it.
However I did enjoy my time there and as long as one accepted that you were there to take up the slack and not to expect anything better than to flog around the sandpit and the Indian sub continent you were ok.
I remember being in Trivandrum one morning to take over the a/c to fly back to Kuwait and there was an almighty row with the Inbound Kuwaiti captain because he wanted to take the carton of mineral water for the outbound pax into the hotel with him so he could "bathe" in it !!:ugh:

[akerosid]

Various news agencies (see A.net news ticker) are reporting that KU is soon to do a significant aircraft deal, which - because of KU's losses - will have to be sanctioned and guaranteed by govt. The "crackdown" is possibly a quid quo pro - shape up etc etc.

There appears to be significant resistance in the Kuwaiti parliament to some of the proposed cuts.

[Tigs2]

Hanslope
Check pms
Tigs

[fantom]

Faheel, should that be spelled 'Fa-haheel' ?

[faheel]

yep just like you should be spelling Phantom ...fantom :)
I see you know your desert Kingdom !
actually I used to live a bit north of there, in Fintas

[Flight Detent]

As did I..... 18A2 rings a bell... right opposite the then B727 Chief FE.

Left in DEC94 for AHK.

Cheers, :cool:

[fantom]

Fintas 12A3, me.
Ah, John Ward, yes.
How's things JB?

[aaprune]

On 4th Feb, Alqabas newspaper (Arabic) printed a letter written by the Chairman and Accountable Manager of Kuwait Airways that states "the deteriorating situation in the institution is dire" and warns of "serious damage to property of the institution and its passengers if they continue like this".
The Accountable Manager of any airline warning of a disaster and saying the situation is dire raises 2 very pertinent questions:
1. How can the local civil aviation authority (DGCA) allow the AOC to remain valid?
2. Why hasn't the EU blacklisted them?

Heres a link to the article in arabic (use an online translator to get a general idea):

http://www.alqabas.com.kw/Article.aspx?id=573498&searchText=حمد%20الفلاح&date=04022010 (http://www.alqabas.com.kw/Article.aspx?id=573498&searchText=%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%AF%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D9%84%D8% A7%D8%AD&date=04022010)

A rough and ready translation:

Falah: considerable barriers to maintenance of the fleet «Kuwait» rickety .. Face disaster


Ali wrote Aharougui:

Warned the Board of Directors of Kuwait Airways Corporation Hamad al-Falah that the deteriorating situation in the institution is dire. He said in the letter to the Minister of Transport Mohamed Al that the responsibility has become heavy and cumbersome, and the deterioration of the fleet and maintenance operations offset by significant obstacles with the near end of life for a large number of aircraft that have not been updated since 1991.
He called peasant Beseiri need to view the situation in the «Kuwait» to the Cabinet, because the worn out fleet «could result in serious damage to property of the institution and its passengers if they continue like this, it is longer».
</span>He was astonished farmer delay the allocation of the institution that lost liquidity and facing the inability to fulfill their operational and administrative. Farmers also complained that the presence of surplus labor, the institution is a significant financial burden, also noting the low productivity of workers due to the unstable situation through which the enterprise.</span></span>

[Xeque]

What??! :confused:

[akerosid]

I think it's just that the translation is a bit more rough than ready!

Possibly, a large part of this is due to Kuwaiti politics; the Kuwaiti parliament stopped a plan to re-equip the fleet with 787s and newer A320s about two years ago and the airline hasn't updated its fleet in many years; it's now one of a dwindling number of carriers still flying pax-configured A310s and A300-600s.

Possibly this is a ploy by the carrier to push for support for a re-equipment plan?

[daikilo]

I think he is trying to indicate that he would appreciate if the government would decide whether the corporation will receive a cash injection direct from the government or via a privatisation. He is probably suggesting that sooner rather than later may be the appropriate timing. :ugh:

[Sobelena]

Well yes, KAC's A300-605s are about 18 years old, but then again, so are some of BA's B747-400s :}

18 years isn't that old for a well maintained a/c.

[Razoray]

If they are well maintained. And is the A300 as dependable as the 747????

[Sobelena]

And is the A300 as dependable as the 747????

The answer is a resounding yes, but let's not turn this into another boring Airbus v Boeing issue. :rolleyes:

[ettore]

In a 18 year span, isn't an A300 likely to have experienced many more cycles than a B-747 ?

[Flight Detent]

I seem to remember the Kuwaitis replacing their excellent condition B727-17R-269s with A320s back in about 1994...

...and the trouble started almost the first day in service.

...but thats another story...

...and their B747-269s for A340s later the same year..

Fantom should be able to back me up here...

so the 320s are around 16 years old

Cheers...FD

[Sobelena]

Their 1st A320 delivery was in October 1992. Both their first A300 and A310 deliveries were in May 1993.

[SRS]

Very sad. I left in 1991 after 15 years. We were once a proud airline with an excellent standard. It seems that KAC has gone downhill. What a pity.