We knew this was coming, but we’re now seeing the first pictures of Kuwait Airways’ new business class.
Continue reading: Kuwait Airways’ New Business Class Seats
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Will there be First on the new A330s?
If not, they’re following the well-trodden path of introducing a J class that’s better than their existing F class, but only in new planes that don’t have F (Qatar, BA).
The interesting thing is, Kuwait in the 1960s to the late 80s was the Dubai of that era. It's where foreign expats wanted to go the most in that region, it had the most open lifestyle in the GCC, business was booming, alcohol was legal there until the late 1970s, they had the best airline in the GCC, etc.
Somewhere along the way, they became complacent and spoiled, and have been lapped by the UAE as a whole and arguably by Qatar as well. Bad decisions by the government, too much corruption/cronyism, etc. It's too bad really, Kuwait (not just the airlines) should be on the same level as the UAE and Qatar today, but they aren't. A few too many steps behind.
If anything, Kuwait Airways, in comparison to EK and QR, kind of serves as a good symbol of how things have changed for that country...
Kuwait has regularly topped the list of the worst countries to live in and work for Expats im recent years. However not sure if these ratings are mixing blue-collar and white collar workers.
@Aaron - completely agree with your take, but I will say that having just visited Kuwait, I do think the city will be right on par with Dubai etc. within 10 years or so. The amount of construction is insane, and tons of restaurants, coffee shops (general gentrification) are popping up. The main thing Kuwait has going for it is the people are incredibly friendly, and unlike the UAE where you'll never meet an Emirati, we had tons of great interactions with Kuwaitis.
@JamesHogan - I'd definitely guess blue collar.
I'd argue you do not need to fly first or biz to/from NYC. We flew economy and had entire rows to ourselves both ways (from NYC had maybe 20 other people total). The perks of visiting unpopular locations.
One thing you forgot to mention is the Iraqi invasion and occupation in1990-91 that came from nowhere. The whole country ceased to exist for 7 months. It takes a while to rebound from that.
@Essam
But that was almost 30 years ago. A country with Kuwait's natural resources shouldn't take that long to recover. And in terms of the physical, it did. Infrastructure was all repaired within a few years, the majority of all damaged buildings repaired within a few years, etc. One could say the war/invasion damaged the psyche of the people and the society as a whole, but again, not sure how the 90/91 invasion is responsible for Kuwait's current problems.
@ Aaron,
From what i hear (don't know how much of it is true) most Kuwaitis ceased to invest in Kuwait after the invasion. Opting instead to invest in Dubai, where I hear was a major reason for it's boom early on. That all changed recently when Saddam died, Kuwaitis starting re-investing in their own country, coinciding with the many constructions/projects around town
Kuwaitis began investing in Kuwait in the mid to late 90s, years before Saddam's death. Lots of international restaurants and new shopping malls, began opening during that time, as well as redevelopment of parts of the waterfront, new water parks, etc. There was also a construction boom, with lots of apartment buildings being built as well.
I think the reason is, the ruling class of Dubai upped their game, while the Kuwaitis just stopped being so forward thinking. In many ways, they still aren't. As you said, Kuwait may finally start to catch up, but they are still many laps behind places like the UAE and Qatar.
I agree. One other thing to note is that Kuwait has a different political system than the UAE and Qatar. It’s by no means Switzerland but they do have an elected parliament through which every law must go through. It also has the power to remove government ministers and even the Emir (happened with Saad in 2006). Given this system, every public project or new legislation has to go through a long process, so naturally new development takes much longer than other countries in the region where it is basically a one man show.
I recently flew on Kuwait Airways and it was a mixed experience. The first leg was on an old Airbus which looked and felt like it belonged in the 90's. The service on the plane was also bad as the crew did not care about passengers nor service. The second Airbus was more modern and looked cleaner and fresher, and the service improved somewhat but still was not great (you can read the full review on my blog)
The real issue - in my opinion - is the new terminal they opened exclusively for Kuwait Airways. I traveled there in April and there are functioning gates, two lounges, a coffee shop and a small duty free shop and that is it. They are still building more the airport and more than half of the services are not available. The personnel in the airport are also rude and the lounge that we went to was alright (good for 1-2 hours - not good for the 4+ hours layover we had). After that experience, I vowed never to travel with Kuwait Airways again!
I lived in Dubai in the 1980s and had uncles/aunts that lived in Kuwait and we used to travel in between. If may offer something - while Kuwait was economically prosperous and liberal in the 60s and 70s by the 80s this had changed. My uncle was trying to move out and get a job in Dubai. There was the opposite of the oil shock as prices declined (or a shock to the Gulf now vs. the west in the 70s), and Kuwait also had a lot of political problems. I remember their Emir was almost assassinated (since in my mind it's linked with some Wham songs :-)) and there was bombings, etc. and the general consensus was that things are spiraling down there. We lived with the Iran-Iraq war as background in a way, and Kuwait suffered more because of it. Also, Dubai never had much oil and and has always developed its economy based on trade... it's not so much that they were forward thinking as that they didn't have any choice so it looks now 40 years later that they were smart to diversify their economy. Dubai developed the biggest port in the region back in the late 70s, and launched an airline in 1985 - all because they needed to build an economy without oil.
British Airways had a hopper - I still remember it was Delhi Dubai Kuwait London - flight 147 - that we took between Dubai and Kuwait. No expats really took Kuwait Airways or Gulf Air 🙂
I have soft spot for that region but never went back after the first Gulf War...
Lots of really interesting and insightful discussion in the comments here, today.
Not trying to be awkward Lucky, but I will agree to disagree on the better seats. I much prefer the spacious and forward facing seats on the current 777/a330s to the new ones with the coffin area over legs and where you cannot see around the cabin easily. As a broad man I really like the Business like this and on old Qatar, current LOT and most of Turkish. The new ones are often too narrow at the chest and although very private I personally find them claustrophobic and cocooning. I actually like being able to look around the cabin and see the spaciousness.
The one unique thing about KU was "ladies first boarding" (on DEL-KWI flight). Never experienced that before! Wouldn't be surprised though since the CEO of airline is a woman.
I could be wrong but I believe Kuwait is quite advanced in women's rights, as compared to other Middle Eastern states.
Flew on KU's A340s back in 1996 and 1997 out of JFK via LHR and ORD via AMS to KWI and beyond. Just photos to relive the experience and no smartphone videos. They had introduced seat back videos at the time which were all the craze. which now are all fuzzy little screens. However kept you entertained rather than having to look at a big fuzzy screen up front or the little mounted ones on the ceiling. Loved the flights on the A340. Sure they take forever to leave the ground but once in the air they are such smooth flights. Love those hair dryer engines lol. Nice that KU even had an A340.
Years later the Airbus aircaft are still part of the fleet. Also the not so new livery is nice.
I flew Air Canada AC91 from GRU to YYZ earlier this week in business. I wasn’t impressed with the business class Collins Aerospace Super Diamond seat. It was very hard and narrow and uncomfortable and the placement of the tray made it difficult to turn when lying down. There must be better options out there.
These seats look like my “ old days “ on Virgin Australia long haul. Ps isn’t Kuwait one of the only first class you haven’t travelled Ben ?