Yesterday images started floating around on whatsapp and instagram of what looks like the new branding for Kuwait Airways. I personally doubt it’s their new branding just because the presentation seems too shallow and because I highly doubt the agency they’re working with would prematurely share the work before an official launch. Not only that but Kuwait Airways sent out the RFP (Request For Proposal) in mid March and they were going to select an agency by mid April so two months isn’t enough time to rebrand an airline.
The agency behind this presentation is Argentinian based DHNN and a few days ago they uploaded a few slides of their Kuwait Airways work to their Behance portfolio. Most likely DHNN was one of the agencies that was pitching for the job but didn’t get it and these few slides are just from their initial pitch.
In any case I’ve attached a few images from the presentation to this post but you could see all the slides that were released on Behance [Here]
Did Kuwait Airways just scrap an entire flight service to avoid carrying Israeli passengers?
The airline has this week pulled its connection between New York’s JFK airport and London Heathrow after U.S. authorities threatened legal action over alleged discrimination.
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) in September warned the Kuwaiti carrier that it had “unlawfully discriminated” against a passenger using an Israeli passport by refusing to sell him a ticket.
It sent a letter giving the airline 15 days to outline how it would in the future comply with anti-discrimination laws.
Kuwait Airways response, according to the DOT, appears to have been to drop its London-New York route. [Source]
Kuwait has revoked the licence of a Kuwait Airways pilot who had invited a porn star and her “glamorous” friend into the cockpit.
The decision announced by Transportation Minister Eisa Al Kindari in a report to the parliament was taken following an investigation he ordered in July when news about the unprecedented security breach and ethical violation broke out.
The report, a copy of which was obtained by Kuwaiti daily Al Jareeda, said that the co-captain was demoted over his role in the case that shook Kuwaitis to the core. The plane crew was not aware of what was happening inside the cockpit and no punitive action was taken against any member, Al Jareeda said on Saturday. [Source]
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t surprised by this. I thought for sure this incident was going to be swept under the carpet. Not bad Kuwait Airways, I’m impressed.
Yesterday I asked if Kuwait Airways were flying their new planes to London and it turns out they are. One of my readers put me in contact with a friend of his who recently flew to London with Kuwait Airways and he sent me a few pictures. At first I was really impressed thinking I was looking at pictures of the Kuwait Airways business class but then I found out this in fact was the Kuwait Airways first class and my excitement dropped. But I was only looking at pictures so I decided to ask the reader about his experience flying Kuwait Airways and this is what he had to say:
Considering Kuwait Airways history with appalling planes, these are brand new and clean. You can see that the staff are glad and proud to serve you because of the state of the plane. They’re more lively now and very friendly. The touch-screen is huge and has a 3-D map of the trip. The movies are not old, I can say that much. The food, I feel, has always been good but the variety now is vast and tasty. The bathrooms are clean as well. The seat is very spacious and you can slide it down all the way to make it into a bed (Not completely flat, maybe 150-160 degrees).
I haven’t traveled first class on KA for a long time but since they got the new planes, I felt like I needed to experience it again. It is worth it but obviously nothing compared to Qatar Airways and Emirates. KA have a long way to go but they’re on the right track IF they can keep the planes clean and up to standard because I feel like they won’t be able to keep them like that. It was first class and they send you a chauffeur to pick you up and drive you to the airport and vice versa. Its all included in the ticket. Very fancy Mercedes. Qatar Airways have their own lounge in Heathrow, I was granted access to Gulf Air lounge, which isnt bad but Qatar Airways and Emirates is much better because of the benefits. For example, if you book first class on Qatar Airways, you can ship your car with you for free. Furthermore, in business class on Qatar Airways, you flatten the seat completely and they give you a comfy bed to put over your seat and the lounge is amazing.
Oh yeah! Theres no wifi on the plane! Once there will be, it won’t be for free on KA. In Emirates first class, you can take a shower on the plane and the bathrooms are quite large for an airplane. On either Emirates or Qatar first class, the chef can cook you anything you like.
According to the same reader the business class seats on that flight were just over-sized economy seats with larger screens.
I flew economy with Kuwait Airways a few months back to Lebanon and had a positive experience. They’re now my second airline of choice when flying to Beirut and the only reason they’re not the first is because MEA flies over Syria making the trip an hour shorter as well as the fact they serve alcohol.
If you want to view a larger version of the first class images above here are the links:
[Image 1] [Image 2] [Image 3]
Chloe Khan caused a lot of controversy last month when photos and videos of her inside the Kuwait Airways cockpit went viral. She’s now released a video where she talks about what took place in the cockpit and it just feels very surreal, like it’s an episode of TOWIE where Kuwait Airways is featured. [YouTube]
According to an article on Gulf News, when the news went viral about the incident with the porn star and Kuwait Airways, the pilot in the video was in Bangkok on layover. After the story blew up the communication minister ordered an “urgent investigation” into the matter and ordered the “immediate recall” of the Kuwaiti pilot from Thailand. Looks like he’s going to be made an example of. Check out the article [Here]
According to The Daily Mail, a Kuwait Airways pilot invited an ex-porn star and X Factor reject into the cockpit along with her glamorous friend for a bit of fun. Supposedly the pilot served them champagne while he boasted about sleeping with half the stewardesses. He was even wearing a Mile High Club tie pin. If that wasn’t enough the pilot begged the porn star to see her breasts and asked her to sit on his lap as she pressed buttons on the plane’s flight deck.
A friend sent me the new Kuwait Airways commercial and I couldn’t stop laughing once I watched it. Basically what I got from the commercial is that a guy purchased a business class ticket for himself and his wife (I am assuming she’s his wife). Once they board the plane, the guy finds an old man sitting in his seat. The guy insults the old man and then goes and sits in economy because I guess the flight attendants couldn’t sort out the problem (it’s Kuwait Airways after all). The guy then negotiates his way to another economy seat and then lies his way back into a business class seat and forces a business class passenger to go back into economy. Finally after all the hustling the old man who was sitting in his seat decides to get up and give him back his seat. I guess the new revamped Kuwait Airways is just like the old Kuwait Airways… a mess. Check out the commercial above. [YouTube]
One of three excavators demolishing the Kuwait Airways building (from the roof down) fell nine stories when the floor underneath the excavator collapsed. The operator of the excavator sadly passed away. [Source]
I drove by the building earlier today on my way to my barber and noticed they had firetrucks blocking the main road in front of the Kuwait Airways building. I figured it was for safety incase the building collapsed into the street. Only while I was getting a haircut did I get an email from the blog Sala6a informing me of the collapse. So when I left the barber, I passed by the site and noticed an excavator busy digging around the area of the collapse. I couldn’t see the excavator that fell but I could see the other two abandoned excavators on the roof.
It’s dangerous enough when it’s just one excavator on the roof, but three??? How many workers have to die before the authorities put a stop to this? The video on top, shot with a drone shows where the excavator fell through. The other two excavators were lucky to survive.
“Kuwait – Small Country, Big Heart” is a short 10 minute documentary on Kuwait that was requested by Kuwait Airways (most likely to use onboard its flights). It’s made by the same guys who did the Kuwait documentary for British Airways so it’s full of beautiful shots of Kuwait. Only the Arabic version is online and you can watch it above. [YouTube]
This past weekend Harley Davidson sent me to Lebanon for a bike ride as part of a media trip. They took care of my airline ticket and I hadn’t noticed until the very last minute that they had booked Kuwait Airways for me. If I had noticed earlier I would have obviously requested to change my flight to MEA but it was too late to change the ticket and I was stuck flying Kuwait Airways.
While checking in at the airport I asked if I was flying a new plane and turns out I was. I still wasn’t too thrilled about flying on the new planes because based on the photos Kuwait Airways had published in their instagram account (here and here), the new planes looked outdated, ugly and gloomy. Not sure why Kuwait Airways posted those horrible pictures but turns out they’re misleading and not an accurate representation of how the planes actually look like.
When I got onboard the new plane I was completely taken a back by how nice and bright the interior was. In the photos on the Kuwait Airways instagram account, the chairs looked dark and the walls and ceiling had a dull grey tone but in reality, the blues were vibrant and the walls and ceiling were bright and light colored. I sat down in my seat and noticed I had really good legroom as well, so far I was really impressed. I started flipping through the media center checking it out while the passenger next to me plugged in a USB stick with movies and started watching something. This is a completely new Kuwait Airways and I was liking it.
I flew both ways with the new Kuwait Airways plane and honestly I think the planes are better than the MEA ones which I normally fly with to Lebanon. There was even internet onboard the Kuwait Airways plane which I tried out on the way back ($10 for 30mins, $20 for 1 hour and $40 for 3 hours). Even the food wasn’t too bad at all and because no one flies Kuwait Airways, the plane wasn’t very packed making the experience even more enjoyable.
I did have an issue though and it was with the flight attendants. When I headed to the bathroom at the back of the plane while we were flying, I noticed one of the flight attendants was sitting in a passenger seat with the headphones on watching a movie. I thought that was pretty unprofessional. Another incident which also showed a lack of professionalism, when we landed and the plane was still on the runway heading towards our parking spot, a passenger got up from his seat and started getting his bag from the overhead compartment. Instead of the Kuwait Airways flight attendant telling the man to sit back down she got up and walked over to him and helped him carry his bag down from the overhead compartment. Then other people started getting up to get their overhead bags while the plane was still moving. Total chaos and I though it was ridiculous that the flight attendants weren’t telling the passengers to stay seated until the plane stopped. But then again this was Kuwait Airways. Although everything does look new, modern and up to date, end of the day this is still the same airline and the flight attendants are a reminder of that.
Putting aside my issue with the flight attendants I actually had a great experience with Kuwait Airways. In fact I would choose Kuwait Airways over MEA in a heart beat if the Kuwait Airways flight wasn’t an hour longer (they don’t fly over Syria, Jordan or Israel so they take a big detour). I thought the in-flight entertainment system had more than enough entertainment for the 3 hour flight, I found the seats comfortable, the legroom was great and my overall experience was very positive. The only thing I would say though is that they can update all their planes as much as they want, they can get the new A380s even and have onboard showers but that’s not going to be enough to move the airline forward unless the employees get retrained and their professionalism reestablished. And I’m not talking about just the onboard flight attendants but every employee you interact with from the minute you checkin to the last Kuwait Airways employee you see should reflect this new and improved Kuwait Airways. Other than that they’re off to a pretty good start.
I passed by the Kuwait Airways Building in Kuwait City last night and noticed it was getting demolished. The new building that will replace it is pictured above (right) and looks like your typical lets build the ugliest and cheapest looking skyscraper we can. Kuwait City would look so much more prettier if all the buildings looked like KIPCO Tower or even the smaller Mazaya and KPT Towers.
Last month Kuwait Airways started receiving their first batch of leased planes and alongside these planes, Kuwait Airways have also gone ahead and given their premium class checking area a facelift as well as the Dasman Lounge.
In the first video on top we get to the see the business class and economy class of the new planes as well as a tour of the new media system. In the second video we get taken on a tour of the new check in area followed by a tour of the lounge. Both the plane interiors and the lounge look outdated to me but I guess its better than what we had.
Kuwait Airways have posted pictures of the interior of the new A320 plane they received last month. Kinda looks gloomy but that’s probably because the shots were taken at night and with a mobile phone. [Link]
Over the weekend Kuwait Airways received their first new leased A320 plane. It’s their first new plane in 16 years and although no official photos of the interior have been released they should look similar to the renderings pictured below. This is the first plane of twelve that Kuwait Airways leased which has arrived.
