Kuwait and Iraq step up plans for jointly operated airline
Kuwait and Iraq plan to launch a jointly operated airline using a part of the compensations paid to the Kuwait Airways for destroying its fleet during the 1990/91 invasion, report the Kuwait Times.
Analyst Saj Ahmad commented: "While it's all well and dandy that the Iraqi and Kuwaiti Governments have thrashed out a settlement and agreed to launch a new airline together, you have to wonder why they didn't opt to get Iraqi Airways and Kuwait Airways working closer together in the first place.
“Neither carrier has much to shout about, and clearly, a code share or joint venture between the two ailing airlines would have made a lot more financial strength. Kuwait Airways has been stagnating for nigh on two decades and while Iraqi Airways has ordered new 737s and 787s to get its services up and running again, it remains unclear whether this new joint Iraqi-Kuwaiti airline will emerge at the expense of the existing two airlines, both of whom are in poor shape.”
Ahmad adds: “Iraq has steadily been opening up airports to new entrants - Baghdad, Sulemaniyah, Erbil, Basra and Najaf and soon Karbala all offering excellent connection points, it is Iraqi Airways which has most to lose because of this new venture."
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