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Kuwait Airways ((アラビア語:الخطوط الجوية الكويتية), ) is the national airline of Kuwait,〔 with its head office on the grounds of Kuwait International Airport, Al Farwaniyah Governorate. It operates scheduled international services throughout the Middle East, to the Indian subcontinent, Europe, Southeast Asia and North America, from its main base at Kuwait International Airport. Kuwait Airways is a member of the Arab Air Carriers Organization. ==History== The carrier traces its history back to 1953, when ''Kuwait National Airways'' was formed by a group of Kuwaiti businessmen; initially, the government took a 50% interest.〔〔 That year, a five-year management contract was signed with ''British International Airlines'' (BIA),〔 a BOAC subsidiary in Kuwait that operated charter flights and provided maintenance services.〔〔 Two Dakotas were bought,〔 and operations started on .〔 The carrier transported 8,966 passengers in its first year of operations.〔 In , the name ''Kuwait Airways'' was adopted.〔 In ,〔 a new contract for management and operation was signed, directly with BOAC this time.〔 BIA was taken over by Kuwait Airways in .〔 On 8 August 1962,〔 Kuwait Airways became the first foreign customer in ordering the Trident when two aircraft of the type were acquired, and an option for a third was taken. The deal was valued at £5.5 million, and also included a Comet 4C. At the same time, the carrier had also a £3 million order in place for three BAC One-Elevens, with an option for a fourth.〔 The airline took delivery of the first Comet of its own in ,〔〔 but Comet operations had started in the previous year with an aircraft on lease from MEA.〔 In , a second Comet was ordered.〔〔 The delivery of this second airframe established an unofficial record in early 1964, when it flew between London and Kuwait, a distance of , at on average.〔 On 1 June 1963, the government increased its participation in the airline to 100%.〔 In , the carrier added its first European destination to the route network when flights to London were inaugurated using Comet equipment; from that time, services between London and some points in the Middle East, including Abadan, Bahrain, Beirut, Dhahran, Doha and Kuwait, started being operated in a pool agreement between the carrier and BOAC and MEA.〔〔 A month later, the airline absorbed Trans Arabia Airways.〔〔 At , the route network had expanded to include Abadan, Baghdad, Bahrain, Beirut, Bombay, Cairo, Damascus, Doha, Frankfurt, Geneva, Jerusalem, Karachi, London, Paris and Teheran. At this time, the fleet was comprised two Comet 4Cs, three DC-6Bs, two Twin Pioneers and three Viscount 700s; the carrier had two Trident 1Es and three One-Elevens pending delivery.〔 The first Trident was handed over by the aircraft manufacturer in ,〔 and the second followed in the same year.〔 In the interim, a third aircraft of the type was ordered.〔 On the other hand, the One-Elevens were never delivered: in the carrier stated that the simultaneous introduction of both types of aircraft was not possible due to a tightened budget, and postponed their delivery;〔 it was informed late that year that the airline would not take them.〔 Three Boeing 707-320Cs were ordered in .〔 The carrier made its first profit ever in 1968, with a net income of £910,000.〔 During 1972, Kuwait Airways' consecutive profitable year, the airline had a net profit of £2.9 million. By , the fleet had reduced to five Boeing 707-320C aircraft.〔 That year, flights to Colombo were launched.〔 At , Faisal Saud Al-Fulaij, who employed 1,800, was the chairman of the corporation.〔 In a deal worth million, two additional ex-Pan American Boeing 707-320Cs were subsequently purchased that year, with the first one entering the fleet in .〔 The carrier ordered its first Boeing 737 that year, slated for delivery in .〔 Kuwait Airways became Boeing 727 worldwide customer in 1979, when it ordered three of these aircraft for delivery in late 1980 and early 1981.〔 By , chairmanship was held by Ghassan Al-Nissef, the number of employees had grown to 5,400 and the fleet comprised eight Boeing 707-320Cs, one Boeing 737-200, three Boeing 747-200Bs and one JetStar; three Boeing 727-200s were pending delivery.〔 In mid-1980, six Airbus A310-200s were ordered to replace the Boeing 707s on routes to Asia, Europe and the Middle East, with deliveries starting in 1983;〔 five more A310 aircraft were added to the order late that year.〔 After India air market was deregulated in 1992, Kuwait Airways and Gulf Air participated in the formation of Jet Airways, each holding a 20% equity stake,〔 with a total investment estimated in million.〔 Following the enactment of a law that banned the investment of foreign carriers in domestic Indian operators, both airlines had to divest their shareholding in the Indian company.〔 Kuwait Airways' 20% stake in Jet Airways was sold to chairman Naresh Goyal for million.〔〔 In December 1998 a code-share agreement was signed with Trans World Airlines to begin in the Spring of 1999. () In October 2007, the new CEO pledged that the airline should be privatised in order for it to compete efficiently against other airlines. He says that the airline will encounter difficulty in advancing, especially in fleet renewal, without the privatisation. Flights to Iraq were resumed in ; Kuwait Airways had discontinued services to the country in 1990 following the invasion of Kuwait.〔 After a 17-year hiatus, the carrier resumed flying to Munich in .〔〔 Also this month, the airline restarted flights to Istanbul-Atatürk; the city had not been served for three years.〔 Bangalore was added to the carrier network in .〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Kuwait Airways」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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