Since the airport contract has finally been awarded, I figured now would be a good time to repost this video by Fosters + Partners on the new Kuwait Airport. Around a minute into the video they take you on a virtual tour of the departure area followed by the arrival area. It’s the airport we’ve always wanted. [YouTube]
36 replies on “Walkthrough of the New Kuwait Airport”
Now, if they can only upgrade the mentality and work ethic of the employees. Does this mean there will be a bigger trolley mafia in the future?
is that really your biggest concern? the trolley guys?
While they may not be the biggest concern, they are indeed a hindrance to all passengers who enter the airport. They sometimes force themselves on unsuspecting and innocent looking travelers. I’ve even seen them push passengers away from their own trolleys. In fact, when they attempted to jump on me I pushed him back and shouted at them to not touch my stuff.
The BIGGEST concern is that Kharafi has been re-awarded the contract after having been disqualified from it previosuly. Citing considerable experience with dealing with them, I can safely say they will not do a great job with this. Only in Kuwait am I seeing this happening.
I’m more concerned with the maintenance after the project is completed. No matter how beautiful this airport turns out if they don’t maintain it with strict guidelines it will end up a mess like our current airport.
Agreed. Let’s hope cracks don’t start appearing on the walls and the ceilings don’t start leaking water by the 1st year like the majority of the buildings around here.
As someone who knows exactly how it went, the disqualifying itself was corrupt and full of holes. They were re-awarded the contract because the disqualification didn’t hold up to scrutiny.
In fact you’ll find that the minister who ordered the disqualification was grilled afterwards and resigned
You know you can just say no to the trolley guys?
I don’t understand why they have all these arches and wavy shapes. It seems like an unnecessary waste of concrete and marble, not to mention public money. To me, an airport is supposed to be practical, not beautiful. I’m there to be in and out ASAP, not to sit around and admire the architecture. Leave that to museums and such. Does anyone remember what Frankfurt or Heathrow airports look like? Exactly.
You need to combine practicality and beauty or else you’ll end up with a big ugly box.
Heathrow airport is beautiful, LAX as well and Doha one is probably my favorite. Frankfurt is just old, if they were gonna build it today it would definitely be a lot prettier.
No one builds an ugly airport.
To me, an airport is a point of transportation, so I don’t really care what they look like as long as they are modern and efficient. It is also important that they have proper business lounges and clean toilets.
To me an airport is a glimpse of the actual country. I believe it must be beautiful and iconic. Imagine all the transit passengers sitting in a crappy airport, they develop their own opinion just by being in the airport of that country.
Not being crappy does not mean extravagant concrete arches. You can have them and still be crappy, if the services are not efficient and people have to wait around for hours gazing at them before their delayed flight, caused by bad management, is finally there.
Actually you prove your point there. I remember what Frankfurt looks like… a hellish gray box. And I stopped using Lufthansa because of it.
Do you drive a Toyota Yaris? After all it’s just a car the looks shouldn’t matter
Never seen it before. Thanks Mark… I am also sharing it…
Any idea how long this project should take?
Since now we know to whom the project has been awarded, it should not take more than an infinite amount of time.
It’s official. We’ve given up to Dubai. Their airport capacity
Is over double ours, and over the next few decates it could
Tripple.
I was not blown away by this airport expansion
The design seemed too simplistic and u innovative.
That “green” departure tunnel is gonna dry up and look like we’re a bunch of lizards travelling through a hole every time we go for a flight.
And any mention on how the hell they’re gonna accomodate all the traffic
And busy streets around the airport? No? How convenient
OH we’ve given up to dubai, we’ve given up to dubai. Grow up! Firstly who said we gave up? who bloody said there was a competition in the first place?
Why do you care that theirs is double ours? we don’t need that much, they do cause they a tourist destination where there are a lot of travellers. we on the other hand aren’t so we don’t need to have an airport that big. Thats just a waste of money. If it is really bothering you then why don’t you pay for a larger expansion?
And “too simplistic”… REALLY? Dubai’s airport is just a long bloody tunnel nothing more and you can’t even see anything outside the windows. The design has won multiple awards and is to be the most eco-friendly airport in the world which is why it has lots of limestone (cause limestone absorbs carbon dioxide) and lots of plants in and around the airport.
About the green departure area, I’m pretty sure they know what plants can would stand heat, if you had the time too look you could see the plants were mainly palm trees.
Now the traffic. I don’t think we need more transport links. The metro will (i hope) be done by the time the airport is done, if not then I’m sure there will be sufficient amount of taxis. why would we need new roads? the main reason why the road to the airport is always jammed is cause people can’t get a parking space and because the airport isn’t able to sustain that amount of passengers. The new terminal will have a massive parking area. The amount of passengers aren’t gonna change much… why would more passengers travel to and from Kuwait? to see our new airport? doesn’t make much sense. the amount of people transited (if that makes sense) to the airport would increase by a lot but they aren’t leaving the airport.
Do a background check before judging people’s hard work. k?
Comparison to Dubai is just wrong. Dubai gets millions of tourists every year. Kuwait is not a touristic destination. so there us no real need for the comparison.
We just need an airport that can handle half of Kuwait leaving in june and then coming back in September, and the new proposed airport is more than enough.
about the busy streets around the airport… if u check the video it shows the entrance to the new airport will be connected to the same road for the Sheikh Saad Terminal (which might get closed due to these new plans)
I see a KA A380!! I hope the airports looks n feels spectacular. Kuwait deserves this. It’s taken awhile but daymn it’s good lookin!
Mabrook in advance.
It’s going to be the poshest airport, it looks a little better in this video before they added the holes in the roof.
Don’t be too happy, logistics wise the new airport location sucks. They need to build a new fuel station, new plane hangers and figure out how passengers travel from the old airport to the new. And finally what they will do with sheikh saad terminal, Turn it to a museum piece ?
Are you honestly worried about Sheikh Saad terminal? It’s just a cheaply built pre-fab building, barely worthy of a small Greek island
Right now it takes me about 30 minutes from landing to exiting the airport (incl immigration, baggage claim and walking).
That will definitely be double or more in the new airport, eg Dubai, Doha, Washington dc, Chicago, LAX, JFK etc…
Theres gotta be a faster way to get out of the airport.
Of course all of this is when the airport is actually completed construction and in commission which judging from past projects can take decades.
oh and lol at trolley mafia.
Why would they even need such a big airport? if they want to cut the population by 100k per year thats probably 1 million less by then! not to factor in those that are leaving on their own. Keep in mind that their is no economic plan nor interest to open up the economy nor turn Kuwait Airways to an international airline / hub..so why this muscle show and money wastage?
well the current airport is definitely too small, and it’s not like they’re going to build an airport every year so let them build something huge from now.
A new supporting terminal is also being built next to the current main terminal, With annual 3.5 Million passengers capacity, It will be identical to T5 Heathrow.
Just wondering.. is the new airport going to be at the same location?
It’s not a new airport, it’s a new terminal..I am really sad that the government are being so stingy and not serious into building a new airport for the region while neighboring countries are so ahead of us in almost every aspect, Kuwait had the potential but from what I observed it will never catch up and if you ask why? Oil barrels won’t reach the 120$ tag price like the good old days when it had the chance to develop its infrastructure. Kuwait will face major economic challenges..a deficit which is inevitable and yes it’s too late now and forget the 100$ oil barrel.
It is a new airport but it will be connected to the current one which makes it a new terminal.
did anyone notice that the logo looks like a uterus
There are no ovaries to make it look like a uterus, but it does look like a thong.
No.. it looks nothing like a thong, and a uterus does not consist of the ovaries
Apologies for going way off topic.. I love the design and I think they did a great job.. I hope I will still be around when its completed!
2035… Seriously?