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Kuwait airport expansion to be completed before 2027

15 May 2025

 

Kuwait’s long-delayed $5.8bn project to develop a second terminal at the country’s international airport is on track to be completed before the end of 2026, according to industry sources.

One source said: “The project currently has good momentum and it should be completed before the start of 2027 if there are no significant problems.”

Project execution for the second terminal started in 2017, and the completion date has been pushed back from the initial completion date for the project, which would have seen it finished in 2022.

Earlier this month, Ahmad Al-Kreebani, the chief executive of state-owned Kuwait Airways, was fired and replaced by Abdulwahab Al-Shatti.

Al-Kreebani’s dismissal after two years in the job followed a decision by the country’s civil aviation authority to withdraw its approval for his leadership of the airline, according to news reports.

Over recent months, 14 airlines have exited from Kuwait International airport and suspended their operations in the country.

These airlines included British Airways, Lufthansa, Air France, KLM and Singapore Airlines.

These airlines continue to serve other Gulf hubs, such as Doha, Dubai and Riyadh, and have cited Kuwait’s economic unviability, substandard infrastructure and stagnant passenger growth as key reasons for their withdrawal.

The second terminal project consists of three packages.

These are:

  • Package 1: Main works – $4,329m
  • Package 2: Multistorey car park building, connection roads, bridges and landscaping works – $550m
  • Package 3: Aircraft parking, runways and service buildings – $950m

Madrid-headquartered Ineco is executing package one.

The second and third packages are both being executed by Turkey’s Limak Holding.

Earlier this year, Ineco released a statement saying that the development would be “one of the most modern airport terminals in the world”.

It said the building’s triangular shape was “inspired by the sails of traditional dhows”, a type of Arabic sailing vessel, usually with slanting triangular sails, common in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean.

The company also said: “The aim of the Kuwait Airport … project is to enable the terminal to operate smoothly from day one.

“To do this, we have to get the basis (construction, systems, employees and operations) perfectly aligned.

“It is a challenge that requires the coordination of a large number of public bodies, consultants and contractors from different countries involved in the construction and future operation of the airport”.

Ineco has previously worked on airport projects in the Spanish cities of Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga, Valencia and Alicante.

It has also worked on airports in Abu Dhabi in the UAE and Newark in the US.

The terminal building was designed by Foster+Partners and Gulf Consult.

The scope of the main package includes the new terminal building, a building for the cooling and electricity supply facilities, a building for the water supply and the provision of the future Automatic People Mover (APM) connection to the satellite building.

The terminal building will be three times the size of the original building and will have 36 boarding gates.

Of the 36 gates, 30 will be contact gates and six will be for remote boarding.

The building will cover more than 700,000 square metres and have five floors, one of which will be underground.

It will have the capacity, at maximum service level, for 25 million passengers a year once the first phase has been completed and up to 50 million passengers after further phases are completed.

The second package of works includes a new car park with approximately 5,000 parking spaces, connected to the new passenger terminal.

It also includes all new access roads to the airport and landscaping.

The scope of the third package comprises the main platform, new taxiways and several tunnels, including one under platform between the terminal building and the future cargo area of the airport.

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Wil Crisp

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