Kuwait Airways To Buy 25 New Airbus Jets

Kuwait Airways has signed a contract with Airbus to buy 25 new aircraft and lease 12 other new planes in the biggest overhaul of its fleet since the 1990 Iraqi invasion, the state-owned carrier said on Monday.

“The company will start to receive the new planes from the second quarter of 2014,” the airline said in a statement.

The airline did not disclose the value of the agreement or give details about the type of aircraft, but said that it would give a news conference on Tuesday.

In May Kuwait Airways said it had signed an initial agreement with Airbus to buy 25 new aircraft and had taken an option on 10 more, saying the order would be for 15 A320neo narrowbody jets and 10 of Airbus’s new A350-900 XWB.

The airline wants to take out of service 11 jets from its 17-strong fleet, the planes of which have an average age of 18 years.

The Kuwait Airways order comes a year after the Gulf Arab state won a $500 million settlement from Iraqi Airways to end a two-decade dispute over damage caused when former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s forces seized aircraft and parts.