Category: Travel

Back in August the MOI added the ability for tourists visiting Kuwait to apply for a visa online (eVisa). Yesterday a friend of mine tried it for the first time and she got her visa in 50 minutes. I thought that was pretty impressive. If you know someone visiting, have them apply for the visa online since it will speed up their entry at the airport. Here is the link for the eVisa online application [Website]

On the other hand my post about the Dubai eVisa dating back to last year has turned into a Dubai eVisa support page for some reason. I guess people who are having trouble getting their eVisa are googling and ending up on my post. It has over 400 comments now and I think a Dubai eVisa employee keeps checking the page since there is this one guy who keeps answering everybody’s questions. You can check that post [Here]

Back in August I posted that a Wataniya Airways representative contacted me to let me know they were planning to make a comeback sometime around December/January and it looks like they’re on track. Although no official announcement has been made, the Wataniya Airways website is now up and they’ve listed their flight destinations which are the following:

Bahrain
Egypt
India
Jordan
Lebanon
Pakistan
Saudi Arabia
UAE

Sadly, no European destinations which is what I think was their issue the first time around. Instead of competing with Kuwait Airways with direct flights to European destinations, they were flying regional and competing with a bunch of low cost airlines. I’m sure it has to do with the fact their current planes can’t do long haul flight but if they did fly to London for example, they would only be competing with Kuwait Airways and British Airways with direct flights. On the other hand, by flying to Dubai they’re competing with Kuwait Airways, FlyDubai, Jazeera Airways, Air Arabia and Emirates.

But I’ve never run an airline so I’m probably wrong. Here is a link to their [Website]

For those of you who don’t know Wataniya Airways, they’re a local carrier that launched back in 2009 as a premium airline but ended up losing money and shutting down. Wikipedia have a good summary of the airlines history which you can read [Here]

Jazeera Airways finally launched their remote check-in facility and it’s located around 2 minutes from the main airport terminal. From what I can see there are two big advantages to this new facility.

The first advantage is the fact you won’t get stuck in the insane traffic at the main terminal. Sometimes the traffic at the main terminal reaches the roundabout and not just during Eid. So being able to bypass all that to check-in is a huge plus.

The second advantage is long term parking. The long term parking at the main terminal is a hit and miss, if you’re traveling on the weekend you won’t find a spot for sure and if you’re traveling mid week it depends on your luck. The new Jazeera Airways check-in facility has it’s own parking. They have valet and you could also park your car yourself and the cost is KD2.5 a day. It’s 500 fils more expensive than the main terminal long term parking lot but at least you’ll find a spot to park.

I still prefer FlyDubai when flying out to Dubai but I might start using Jazeera Airways to Beirut. I hope they fix up the interior of their planes since the last few times I flew with them I found the interiors to be old and dirty looking.

For more info on their Park & Fly service click [Here]

I “conveniently” just got back today, right before Eid.

[poll id=”7″]

If yes, let me know where in the comments below.

The local Korean Embassy along with HanKut Diwaniya are organizing a cultural tourist trip to South Korea during the cherry blossom season. The trip is taking place from March 31st to April 15th 2but the last day to register is this coming September the 17th.

This is not a free trip. If you’re interested to get more details including the cost then send an email to [email protected]

Whenever I fly to Dubai I tend to take FlyDubai and land at the main Dubai International Airport (DXB) like most people. But on my last trip I decided to fly out to the less popular Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC) instead. The timings worked better for me compared to the DXB route and since I was staying in Dubai Marina, the distance from DWC to Dubai Marina was practically the same as DXB to Marina so that worked out in my favor.

The Al Maktoum International Airport isn’t anything close in size and amenities when compared to DXB Terminal 3 where Emirates flies in and out from, but compared to Terminal 2 which FlyDubai uses, Al Maktoum is pretty much the same. The biggest difference between the two is the amount of traffic inside and outside the airport since Al Maktoum doesn’t have anywhere near as much crowds as Terminal 2 does, or at least when I was there. On arrival we were the only plane that had landed and on departure I think there was one or two other planes leaving besides mine. The airport was pretty much empty the whole time and even once I walked out of the airport it was the same story there, no need to wait in line for a taxi and the highway to Dubai Marina was barren with barely any other cars on the road. On departure there was plenty of seating surrounding a pretty large sized duty free area and you also had your usual suspects like Starbucks, Costa and McDonalds in the food court.

Depending on where you’re staying in Dubai though it might or might not make sense to fly out to Al Maktoum International Airport. In my case staying in Dubai Marina allowed me to choose between the DXB or DWC airports since both were similar distance apart. But if you’re staying in downtown, the distance from DWC to downtown by car would be considerably longer than DXB to downtown (40 mins vs 15 mins). Personally, I’ll be using Al Maktoum again the next time I’m staying in Dubai Marina, it was just a chill experience without all the hustle and bustle of the overcrowded terminal 2.

Whoever they put in charge of the Jazeera Airways lounge design should have been put in charge of the Pearl Lounge revamp. The new lounge is located next to gate B3 and I’m trying to find out if you can get access to it using certain credit cards but I doubt it.

Jazeera Airways has been granted approval by the Kuwait Council of Ministers for land to build a dedicated passenger terminal and car park buildings at Kuwait International Airport.

The terminal is a solution proposed by the airline to help ease the congestion at Kuwait International Airport, the country’s only primary airport, which is currently operating over capacity.

The project’s investment value is KD14 million ($46.232), and its total construction time frame is 15 months, including the permits acquisitions phase.

The terminal is part of the airline’s ‘Next Big Thing’ series of value boosting projects and initiatives tasked with creating a better travel experience on ground and in the air. Other initiatives include a remote check-in facility, in-flight broadband internet, a business class lounge, and long-haul flights. [Source]

Rumors of a dedicated Jazeera Airways terminal had been floating around for years and it looks like they finally got the approval from the government. Until the new terminal is built, Jazeera Airways are setting up a remote check-in station for the current airport:

Remote Check-in
Jazeera are building a check-in facility two minutes away from the main airport terminal. You arrive at the facility where parking valets will meet you, unload your baggage and then park your car for you. You then check in your baggage at this facility and get your boarding pass before being shuttled to the main terminal where you can head straight to immigration. The idea here is that you’ll bypass the airports congestion by skipping the whole parking and check-in process at the main terminal. They’ve already started construction on this facility and it should be operational by the end of this year. [Source]

So if I am to understand this correctly, we will end up having a total of 4 different terminals. We have the current main terminal at the Kuwait International Airport, the Sheikh Saad terminal, the huge new terminal that will start construction soon and now the Jazeera terminal. Nice.

According to a source of mine, the Ministry of Public Works announced that the consortium of Al Kharafi and the Turkish firm Limak will begin construction on the new airport from September 1st. The project contract states that construction would take six years but Limak have stated they would have it completed in just four and half years. So if everything goes according to plan, the new airport should be ready in 2021.

[YouTube]

Thanks KB

Make sure you get to the airport super early and email me photos from the airport if it looks insanely overpacked like the picture above which was taken this past weekend.

Update: A reader @BoozAzzouz took the photo below earlier today, I’m guessing you’re going to have to get to the airport at least 3-4 hours earlier to make sure you don’t miss your flight.

According to a recent news report on Al Rai, the Kuwait Airport have updated the security screening stations on departure. The airport increased the security stations from a previous total of four to a new total of six. One station for first/business class passengers as well as flight crew, two for GCC residents and three machines now for expats.

On a related note, Kuwait Airways no longer flies direct to New York but instead has to stop in Ireland for a security check before continuing to the States. I understood that it’s due to the poor security checks at the Kuwait Airport. United Airlines stopped their Kuwait – Washington route earlier this year and one of the rumored reasons was because of poor airport security and it makes sense now. Last year there were also rumors that British Airways would halt all flights from Kuwait unless security at the airport was improved.

Kuwait has awarded a KD 1.3bn ($4.3bn) contract to Turkish firm Limak Construction – the lowest bidder – to construct the new passenger terminal at the Kuwait International Airport.

The 708,000 square metre new passenger terminal will have the capacity to handle 25 million passengers per year.

It will also be able to accommodate all aircraft types through 51 gates and stands with the ability to serve 21 A380 jumbo jets simultaneously.

The terminal is scheduled for completion in six years, a statement said. The contract also includes the provision of maintenance for an additional two years. [Source]

Even though I heard there was a bit on controversy since the project was awarded to a firm previously disqualified, at least we’re finally going to get a new airport!

CityBus launched a new bus service that starts all the way in Fahaheel, passing
through Mangaf, Abu Halifa, Mahboula and Fintas before arriving at the final destination, the Kuwait airport. They’re calling it the X1 route and it costs just 500 fils to get to the airport from all the way in Fahaheel.

The service also runs 24/7 with a bus coming by every 30 minutes between 4AM to midnight and then every 60 minutes from midnight to 4AM. Not bad, and I’m guessing they’ll most likely be adding more routes to the airport to cover other areas as well. For more info including the bus stop location guide you can check out their Facebook page [Here]

Last night when I got back to Kuwait from a quick trip to Doha I noticed they changed the queue system at passport control.

When I came down the escalators I noticed majority of the immigration counters were practically empty which was a relief since I really didn’t want to spend an hour in line. But then as I got closer I noticed something odd. On the far left was a large crowd of expats, when I looked carefully I noticed all the empty counters were for GCC nationals and that expats needed to enter a queue on the far left.

So I got into the queue which truthfully was moving fast. It was one long queue that served all the expat counters which is something I prefer over having individual queues for each counter. It’s actually been proven to be more efficient which is why it’s used in other countries. There was an officer at the end of the end of the queue who was directing the expats to available counters as they free up. It’s like finally, a proper system.

But, I had a major issue was with the visual appearance of the passport control area (put aside the floor tiles that wouldn’t look out of place in a bathroom). My big issue was how they had the large wide open space for GCC nationals and then had all the expats squeezed into the far left corner like cattle (check below illustration for an overhead look).

I don’t mind there be more counters for GCC nationals over expats, but at least have the expats queue wider and take up more space. Right now the expats are squeezed into 25% of the space while the other 75% is left open for GCC nationals. It really looked degrading the way we were all squeezed off to the side and it’s definitely not a great first impression for visitors on arrival.

Ok ok so it’s not really an extension but, just to give you an idea of how bad the situation in the long term parking has gotten, they’re now having cars park in the pedestrian walkway in the long term parking lot.

They’re going to have to construct a new multistory parking lot but that would mean they’d have to close the parking lot during that process which will be annoying so I have another idea. How about turning an empty lot of land near the airport into a parking lot and then have a shuttle bus service to and from the airport?