Kuwait International Airport (, ) is an

international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports, and feature longer runways and have faciliti ...

located in the

Farwaniya Governorate Farwaniya Governorate ( ) is the most populous of the six governorates of Kuwait, and is the country's only landlocked governorate. It is Kuwait's main residential area and also forms an important part of Kuwait's commercial activities. District ...

, Kuwait, south of the centre of

Kuwait City Kuwait City (; ) is the capital and largest city of Kuwait. Located at the heart of the country on the south shore of Kuwait Bay on the Persian Gulf, it is the political, cultural and economic center of the emirate, containing Kuwait's Seif Pal ...

, spread over an area of . As of 2024 it is the 11th busiest airport in the Middle East. It serves as the primary hub for

Kuwait Airways Kuwait Airways (, ) is the flag carrier 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 subcontine ...

and

Jazeera Airways Jazeera Airways K.S.C () is a Kuwaiti low-cost airline with its head office on the premises of Kuwait International Airport in Al Farwaniyah Governorate, Kuwait. It operates scheduled services in the Middle East, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, I ...

. A portion of the airport complex is designated as Abdullah Al-Mubarak Air Base, which contains the headquarters of the

Kuwait Air Force The Kuwait Air Force () is the air arm of the Armed Forces of Kuwait. The Air Force headquarters is located at Abdullah Al-Mubarak Air Base, with the remaining forces stationed at Air Defense Brigades, Ali Al Salem Air Base and Ahmad al-Jaber ...

, as well as the Kuwait Air Force Museum.

History

The airport was first launched in 1927–1928. It was originally envisioned as a stop for British planes on their way to

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. The current main airport structure, designed by Kenzo Tange and opened in 1979, was executed and completed by Al Hani Construction in a joint venture with

Ballast Nedam Ballast Nedam is a Dutch-based construction and engineering company headquartered in Nieuwegein. The company resulted from the 1969 merger between Amsterdamse Ballast Maatschappij, founded in 1877, and Nederlandse Aannemingsmaatschappij, founded ...

of The Netherlands. On February 27, 1991, during the final days of the

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

, in part of the

liberation of Kuwait The Liberation of Kuwait campaign was between 24 and 28 February 1991, consisting of a major ground offensive into Iraqi-occupied Kuwait following the successful Gulf War air campaign. Approximately 650,000 troops of the American-led 42-coun ...

, the airport became the scene of a

tank battle Armoured warfare or armored warfare (American English; see spelling differences), is the use of armoured fighting vehicles in modern warfare. It is a major component of modern methods of war. The premise of armored warfare rests on the abili ...

between

Iraqi forces The Iraqi Armed Forces are the military forces of the Republic of Iraq. They consist of the Ground forces, the Army Aviation Command, the Iraqi Air Force, the Air Defence Command, and the Iraqi Navy. The armed forces are administered by the Min ...

and elements of the

U.S. Army Special Forces The United States Army Special Forces (SF), colloquially known as the "Green Berets" due to their distinctive service headgear, is a branch of the United States Army Special Operations Command (USASOC). The core missionset of Special Forces ...

. The airport underwent a large renovation and expansion project from 1999 to 2001, in which the former parking lot was cleared and a terminal expansion was built. Kuwait International Airport can currently handle more than 13 million passengers a year. A new general aviation terminal was completed in 2008 under a BOT scheme and is operated by Royal Aviation. In 2011, the Department of Civil Aviation announced the intention of extending Kuwait International Airport so it can handle more passengers and more

aircraft An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...

. On October 3, 2011, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation announced that a new

Foster + Partners Foster and Partners (also Foster + Partners) is a British international architecture firm with its headquarters in London, England. It was founded in 1967 by British architect and designer Norman Foster. The firm has been involved in the design ...

designed terminal will begin construction in 2012 and will increase the annual passenger handling amount to 14 million passengers in its first phase with the option of expanding to 25 million passengers. The airport finalized formalities for the construction of the terminal, which was due to begin construction in 2012 with completion by 2016. It would be built to the south of the current terminal complex with new access routes from the Seventh Ring Road to the south of the airport compound. It is designed as a three-pointed star, with each point extending 600 meters from the star's center. Two airside hotels will form part of the new building. In December 2012, the Kuwaiti Ministry of Public Works announced that the new terminal at the Kuwait International Airport would be completed by the end of 2016, estimating the cost to be around 900 million

Kuwaiti dinar The Kuwaiti dinar (, code: KWD) is the currency of Kuwait. It is sub-divided into 1,000 fulūs. As of 2023, the Kuwaiti dinar is the currency with the highest value per base unit, with KD 1 equalling US$3.26, ahead of the Bahraini dina ...

($3.2 billion). On May 20, 2013, the Director of Operations Management in the General Administration of Civil Aviation, Essam Al-Zamil, announced that some of the flights will be diverted to the Sheikh Saad Terminal instead of Kuwait Airport's main terminal starting in July due to the large number of passengers and the growing number of aircraft attributing to Kuwait Airport being over capacity. On May 22, 2018,

launched its own dedicated terminal at Kuwait International Airport, to be called Terminal 5. It is located directly adjacent to and connected to the existing main building, but features dedicated arrival/departure areas, customs and all supporting functions in order to alleviate congestion at the main building. All Jazeera arrivals will arrive at the new terminal from opening, while departing flights will transition from the current terminal between May 22 and May 27. By May 27, all departing and arriving Jazeera flights will be handled exclusively at Terminal 5. On August 8, 2018, Terminal 4 was inaugurated to cater to all flights operated by Kuwait's national carrier,

. Terminal 4 can handle 4.5 million passengers annually and eases congestion at Terminal 1. There are 2,450 additional car parking spaces in a dedicated surface lot adjacent to the terminal and connected to the building by a bridge. From 13 March to 1 August 2020, all commercial flights at Kuwait International Airport were suspended as a result of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Military

The airport is home to the Abdullah Al-Mubarak Air Base, which is used by the Kuwait Air Force and has been used by Italian Air Force

Boeing KC-767 The Boeing KC-767 is a military aerial refueling tanker and transport aircraft developed from the Boeing 767-200ER. The tanker received the designation KC-767A, after being selected by the U.S. Air Force (USAF) initially to replace older KC ...

s since October 2014 for the fight against ISIL. The gateway at Abdullah Al-Mubarak Air Base, used by US Air Force and coalition forces, was replaced after over 20 years of operation in 2019 with the opening of Cargo City, located adjacent to a newly built ramp on the airport's western side. Cargo City is operated by the

387th Air Expeditionary Group The 387th Air Expeditionary Group (387 AEG) is a provisional United States Air Force direct reporting unit at Ali Al Salem Air Base, Kuwait under United States Air Forces Central Command (USAFCENT). As a provisional unit, it may be activate ...

, with the 5th Expeditionary Air Mobility Squadron providing additional services like maintenance for military and contract flights.

Facilities

The airport lies at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...

of above

mean sea level A mean is a quantity representing the "center" of a collection of numbers and is intermediate to the extreme values of the set of numbers. There are several kinds of means (or "measures of central tendency") in mathematics, especially in statist ...

. It has two

runway In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...

s: 15R/33L with a

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

surface measuring and 15L/33R with an

asphalt Asphalt most often refers to: * Bitumen, also known as "liquid asphalt cement" or simply "asphalt", a viscous form of petroleum mainly used as a binder in asphalt concrete * Asphalt concrete, a mixture of bitumen with coarse and fine aggregates, u ...

surface measuring .

Terminals

Kuwait International Airport will have five operational, numbered terminals by 2026.

Terminal 1

Terminal 1, designed by Kenzo Tange, is the primary building at Kuwait International Airport and houses most arriving and departing flights other than those operated by Kuwait Airways, Jazeera Airways, Etihad, Emirates and flydubai, which operate out of the other terminals; it has 16 gates. The terminal also houses restaurants, duty-free shops, security checkpoints, and four lounges.

Terminal 2

Terminal 2, designed by

Foster and Partners Foster and Partners (also Foster + Partners) is a British international architecture firm with its headquarters in London, England. It was founded in 1967 by British architect and designer Norman Foster. The firm has been involved in the desig ...

, will expand the airport's overall capacity by 25–50 million passengers per year through the introduction of a triangular building with 28 gates, 4,500 additional parking spaces and a 400-bed air-side hotel. It began construction in May 2017 and was due for completion in August 2022, but was initially delayed to 2024 due to the

. Following further delays, the new target operation date for T2 is set for the last quarter of 2026. The new terminal is environmentally sustainable, and aims to achieve LEED Gold certification. It is one of the world's largest environment friendly airport projects, and forms an essential part of

Kuwait Vision 2035 Kuwait Vision 2035 (Arabic: رؤية الكويت 2035, Romanized: Ru'iyat Al-Kuwayt 2035) is an undergoing strategic development plan which outlines Kuwait’s aspirations to transform towards a globally competitive nation by the year 2035. It ...

Terminal 3

Originally named the Sheikh Saad General Aviation Terminal and conceived for use by private aircraft, Terminal 3 is a small building that was used exclusively by

Aegean Airlines Aegean Airlines S.A. (legal name , ''Aeroporía Aigaíou'' ) is the flag carrier of Greece and the largest Greek airline by total number of passengers carried, by number of destinations served, and by fleet size. A Star Alliance member since Jun ...

and

flydubai Dubai Aviation Corporation (), doing business as flydubai (), is an Emirati government-owned airline based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The airline mainly operates out of Terminal 2 at Dubai International Airport, though some flights fly out ...

before being shut down due to work in Terminal 2.

Terminal 4

Inaugurated on 8 August 2018, Terminal 4 at Kuwait International Airport is exclusively used by

, Kuwait's national carrier. The terminal was designed by the Spanish branch of the American company AECOM and constructed by a joint venture between Cengiz Insaat and First Kuwaiti Contractor. It spans over 55,000 square meters and is located adjacent to the airport's cargo-handling facilities. The terminal features five bus gates and nine boarding bridges, enabling it to accommodate up to eight aircraft simultaneously. With an annual capacity to handle 4.5 million passengers, Terminal 4 was built to alleviate congestion at Terminal 1 and enhance the overall airport experience. It offers 2,450 parking spaces in a dedicated lot connected to the terminal by a bridge. In addition to these facilities, the terminal is equipped with modern amenities and streamlined operational processes, aimed at providing passengers with a more efficient and comfortable travel experience. The addition of Terminal 4 marked a significant milestone in the expansion and modernization of Kuwait International Airport, reflecting the country's commitment to improving its aviation infrastructure in line with global standards.

Terminal 5

Inaugurated in May 2018, Terminal 5 is exclusively used by Kuwait-based budget airline

. Attached to Terminal 1 but with dedicated entrance/exit points, it also includes check-in zones, security checkpoints, lounges, shops, three departure gates, customs and arrival belts. It additionally offers 350 parking spaces in a multi-story facility attached to Terminal 5 by a bridge.

Terminal assignments

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

The following airlines offer scheduled passenger services:

Cargo

Statistics

Accidents and incidents

* On 25 August 1973, a

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals * Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking * Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil ...

DC-6 belonging to Yemen Airlines was hijacked during a flight from Taiz to Asmara. After making a refueling stop in Djibouti, the aircraft was taken to Kuwait where the single hijacker surrendered. * On 17 December 1973, a terrorist attack on Rome's

Fiumicino Airport Leonardo da Vinci Rome Fiumicino Airport () is an international airport in Fiumicino, Italy, serving Rome. It is the busiest airport in the country, the eighth-busiest airport in Europe and the world's 39th-busiest airport with over 49.2&nbs ...

ended with the hijacking of a

Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), trading as the Lufthansa Group, is a German aviation group. Its major and founding subsidiary airline Lufthansa German Airlines, branded as Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. It ranks List of largest airlin ...

Boeing 737-100 that was preparing to depart to

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. The aircraft was taken to

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

where the hijackers surrendered one day later. * On 5 June 1977, a

Middle East Airlines Middle East Airlines – Air Liban S.A.L. (), more commonly known as Middle East Airlines (MEA) (), is the flag carrier of Lebanon, with its head office in Beirut, near Beirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport. It operates scheduled internat ...

Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is an early American long-range Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, the initial first flew on Decembe ...

was hijacked during a flight from

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

. The ordeal ended in

when the aircraft was stormed and the single hijacker was arrested. * On 24 July 1980, two hijackers demanding money surrendered after hijacking a

Boeing 737-200 The Boeing 737 is an American narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retained the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating ...

during a flight from

. * On 12 December 1983, the airport was one of the targets of the

1983 Kuwait bombings 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

. * On 2 August 1990,

British Airways Flight 149 British Airways Flight 149 was a scheduled flight from Heathrow Airport to Subang International Airport via Kuwait International Airport and Madras International Airport, operated by British Airways using a Boeing 747-136. Before the aircr ...

carrying 349 passengers landed at Kuwait International Airport just four hours after the

Iraqi invasion of Kuwait The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, codenamed Project 17, began on 2 August 1990 and marked the beginning of the Gulf War. After defeating the State of Kuwait on 4 August 1990, Iraq went on to militarily occupy the country for the next seven months ...

, leading to the capture of the passengers and crew. The Boeing 747-100 aircraft was looted by the Iraqis and destroyed. All passengers and crew were reported safe, but one flight attendant was raped and the passengers were taken to Iraq. A McDonnell Douglas DC-9 belonging to the Kuwait Air Force was also destroyed at the airport. During the

many of the planes belonging to

were stolen from the airport and stored in different locations in Iraq, some of the

Airbus A310 The Airbus A310 is a wide-body aircraft, Aircraft design process, designed and manufactured by Airbus Industrie GIE, then a consortium of European aerospace manufacturers. Airbus had identified a demand for an aircraft smaller than the Airbus ...

s notably were given Iraqi registrations, the aircraft were later destroyed by allied bombings in 1991. * On 25 February 1991, a

USMC The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionary ...

McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II crash-landed after being hit by ground fire during the Kuwait Liberation War. * On 27 February 1991, the airport played host to a large tank battle between U.S. and Iraqi forces during the first

. It is known today as the Battle of Kuwait International Airport. * On 10 December 1999, three US military personnel died when a USAF Lockheed C-130 Hercules made a hard emergency landing at Kuwait International Airport after sustaining damage from landing short of the runway at nearby Jaber al-Ahmad Airbase. * On 24 May 2018, a Police Air Wing Eurocopter AS365 Dauphin helicopter was destroyed in a fire that broke out in a military hangar. Another similar helicopter was rescued before the fire reached it. *On 7 May 2019, a towing tractor driver was killed when a

Boeing 777-300ER aircraft being towed rolled over the tractor after the tow-bar broke. *On 8 June 2025, Gulf Air Flight 213 received a bomb threat en route to Kuwait, the plane landed safely and after procedures revealed there is no bomb

References

External links

Kuwait International Airport (official site)
* * * {{Airports the Middle East Airports established in 1962 Airports in Kuwait Buildings and structures in Kuwait City 1962 establishments in Kuwait