Kuwait Airways (KU, Kuwait) is to retire its fleet of five A300-600s and three A310-300s at the end of the year the airline's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Rasha Al Roumi has revealed. The types are currently used on flights throughout the Gulf, the Middle East, Europe, North Africa, and the Indian subcontinent.
Al Roumi told a press conference last week that the removal of older jets would coincide with the arrival of new aircraft the most recent of which was an A330-200 - the first of five on lease from Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac).
Next year, the Kuwaiti national carrier will phase out its four older A320-200s while its A340-300s and B777-200(ER)s will be gradually replaced with a fleet of ten B777-300(ER)s which will begin arriving from November 2016 onwards. As such, according to Al Roumi, the retirement of the carrier's older widebodies should be completed by June 2017.
Kuwait Airways has firm orders for fifteen A320neo and ten A350-900s, deliveries of which will commence in 2019 and 2021 respectively. It also has options for five more A320neo and five more A350s, possibly for the larger A350-1000.
In the longterm, the CEO alluded to Kuwait Airways' interest in Boeing's B777X offering which could replace its B777-300(ER)s from 2026 onwards.
