Kuwait Airways is continuing its fleet modernization, as the state-owned carrier has just taken delivery of its first narrow body aircraft with flat beds in business class.
In this post:
Kuwait Airways adding nine Airbus A321neos to fleet
Kuwait Airways has recently taken delivery of its first of nine Airbus A321neo aircraft. The first aircraft has the registration code 9K-AQA, and it flew from Toulouse (TLS) to Kuwait City (KWI) on May 15, 2025, and then operated its first passenger flight to Dubai (DXB) on May 21, 2025.
Kuwait Airways is configuring these jets with 166 seats, including 16 business class seats and 150 economy class seats. What’s perhaps most noteworthy about these new planes is that they feature flat beds in business class, which is the first time that the airline has offered such a product on a narrow body aircraft.
As you can see, business class is in a 2-2 configuration, spread across four rows. It appears to be similar to the product you’ll find on Air Europa and Royal Air Maroc Boeing 787-8s, which isn’t exactly my favorite business class hard product.
The A321neo is a lovely jet, with impressive range, economics, and passenger comfort. It remains to be seen if the airline will primarily use the A321neo to fly regionally, or if it’ll operate some flights to Europe, Africa, etc. For what it’s worth, three of the nine orders are for the longer range A321LR, so maybe those will be configured differently, and used for longer flights.
I’ve gotta say, the layout of this jet seems really inefficient, as it “only” has 166 seats. For example, ITA Airways’ A321neos have 165 seats, all while having a much better business class product with direct aisle access, plus a premium economy cabin. So the airline really didn’t do a great job optimizing this LOPA.
Kuwait Airways has nicely modernized its fleet, but…
Kuwait Airways has invested a 10-figure sum in modernizing its fleet in recent years. The airline used to have one of the oldest fleets of any airline in the region, but in recent years, the airline has taken delivery of new jets while retiring older ones. This includes taking delivery of Airbus A320neos, Airbus A330-800neos and A330-900neos, and Boeing 777-300ERs (before that). At this point, the carrier’s average fleet age is only five years.
Unfortunately the sad reality is that even with these investments, the airline has fairly little to show for it in terms of creating a competitive passenger experience. As an example, last year I flew Kuwait Airways’ 777 first class, and it was just… not great.
On the plus side, the A330neos feature a better business class experience, but still, there’s not much consistency across the fleet, given the lackluster business class product on the 777s. A couple of years back, Kuwait Airways highlighted how it would massively upgrade its soft product, but that just hasn’t materialized as promised.
Some might argue, “well maybe this is what they’re going for.” After all, Kuwait Airways isn’t likely to capture much connecting traffic (unless it undercuts the competition on price), and the airline has a decent network out of Kuwait, to serve the local community. But I also don’t think that the government is happy with the current situation, given that the airline continues to lose huge amounts of money, and the CEO was dismissed in recent weeks.
It actually seems pretty easy to make Kuwait Airways competitive, but it also seems like the company can’t get out of its own way, so…
Bottom line
Kuwait Airways has just taken delivery of its first of nine Airbus A321neo jets. What’s most interesting about these aircraft is that they feature flat beds in business class, which is the first time we’ve seen this on the carrier. It’s not necessarily my favorite product, and I can’t make sense of the inefficiency of the layout, but hey, that’s better than non-flat bed.
It’s nice to see Kuwait Airways continue to modernize, even if the execution could be a bit better.
What do you make of Kuwait Airways’ new A321neo?
Garbage airline from garbage country gets garbage plane. Next.
One enjoys a post from a “Garbage” numpty, from a “Garbage country” with a “Garbage” opinion …. thank you so much for the grin ORD …. :-)
Never got a thank you from them for helping to save their country in 1990. So to hell with them.
They thanked the US plenty, actually.
Aaron, was the reign of the ‘Perfumed Prince’ first or second fracas?
I can’t tell if you need to take less or more meds.
What no Gulf Gong?
No Op Granby Medal, no rosette, no oak leaf ?
Even REMF’s from the RAF were so decorated …. :-)
Ben, you say "the layout of this jet seems really inefficient, as it “only” has 166 seats...So the airline really didn’t do a great job optimizing this LOPA." Whose side are you on?! You'd rather have them put 200 seats?
@ Ricky -- I'm on the side of designing aircraft that are efficiently configured. So either have a cabin that has good economics, or a cabin with an amazing product (or ideally both). Kuwait Airways offers neither.
Have they publicized the details of the layout? Maybe instead of a premium economy section the airline decided to just give every row of economy an extra inch of legroom?
I’m actually surprised that they went with side by side given some of the religious customs in the region. I’d think hearingbone might have been a better solution
Its probably meant for families. Also not all people in the region have an issue sitting next to someone from the opposite sex that they aren’t related to.
I dislike having to click on a twitter link to view images, it would be nice if you reposted in the article itself ♥️
@ DanG-DEN -- I hear you! The issue is that they're not my photos and I can't find any media images, so the only fair way I can use the pictures and give credit is to embed the social media posts. Hopefully that makes sense.
What are you talking about when You say that Kuwait Airways "isnt going to get much connecting traffic"? from New York, at least, its primary business is dirt cheap connecting traffic from New York to and from the Indian subcontinent. From europe it's bottom of the barrel traffic to India and Southeast Asia. That's all they fly. That is, except for withing the region, where they do laborer traffic to/ from Kuwait. Their whole business...
What are you talking about when You say that Kuwait Airways "isnt going to get much connecting traffic"? from New York, at least, its primary business is dirt cheap connecting traffic from New York to and from the Indian subcontinent. From europe it's bottom of the barrel traffic to India and Southeast Asia. That's all they fly. That is, except for withing the region, where they do laborer traffic to/ from Kuwait. Their whole business model is budget Emirates/Etihad/Qatar.
@ Jason -- As I said right after what you quoted, "unless it undercuts the competition on price." I think that gets at why Kuwait Airways is losing so much money. The airline primarily fills its planes with very low connecting fares, because even Kuwaitis often avoid the airline, and would rather fly Emirates, etc.
Even with nicer products, Etihad/qatar/emirates are all still primarily connecting traffic. With some notable exceptions, most traffic is just passing through those three airports. I'm not convinced that amazing service on Kuwait airways would yield much of a difference.
@ Jason -- I hear you, though the difference is that Kuwait Airways is a small fraction the size of the other airlines. Rich Kuwaitis are often spending extra to fly other Gulf carriers, and that's not great for the national airline.
At the risk of injuring a fatwa, could it be that Kuwaitis prefer EK as they serve booze ? ... lol ..
@bossa Bingo. I have fam who have lived and worked in Kuwait since the 1960s. It's anything but a dry country (never has been) if you're middle class or above.
"bottom of the barrel traffic to India" is Air India's target market. And a barrel has fewer piss stains than AI's business class seats and fewer bedbugs.