16/09/2019
Civil Aviation Celebrates One Year of Operating Passengers’ Terminal (T4)
H.E. President of Civil Aviation Sheikh Salman Sabah Al-Salem Al-Homoud Al-Sabah, has affirmed the commencement of a comprehensive review of all laws and regulations that would develop the mechanisms of the air-transport market and regulate the relationship between all concerned parties, as well as the preparation of a new law to transform the Directorate General of Civil Aviation into an independent technical body, same as the countries of the region and the advanced world. In his speech during the ceremony held on the occasion of the first anniversary of operating the Passengers’ Terminal (T4) at Kuwait International Airport, he said that this step will grant the Civil Aviation the opportunity it deserves to separate the operational side from the regulatory and legislative side, and exercise its duty as regulatory authority on the air-transport sector, while having partnership with the local and foreign private sectors to handle the operational side through specialized companies that operate in a commercial and technical manner. The ceremony was attended by the Director-General of Civil Aviation – Eng. Yousef Al-Fouzan, the Assistant Undersecretary of Ministry of Interior for Ports Security Affairs - Major General Mansour Al-Awadhi, the Turkish Ambassador Ms. Aisha Koitak, the South Korean Ambassador - Mr. Hong Yong Je, and the Chief Executive Officer of the Korean Incheon Airports Services Corporation – Mr. Kwang Soo Lee. Sheikh Salman pointed out to the government's keenness to modernize the infrastructure of the air-transport sector in Kuwait, and in culmination of the directives of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah in transforming Kuwait into a financial and commercial center, and in compliance with Kuwait Vision 2030, we are currently updating the legislative structure of the Civil Aviation sector in accordance with the international requirements and the recommendations of international organizations specialized in aviation. Sheikh Salman added that the celebration coincides with the end of summer travel season, where passengers traffic at Kuwait International Airport was distributed among various buildings, the matter which reduced significantly the burden on the main building this summer, and such traffic exceeded 6 million passengers. He added: Today we are reaping the fruits of the first experiment of the “Civil Aviation” in partnership with the private sector after having assigned the task of managing and operating the new Passengers’ Terminal (T4) to one of the major international companies in airports management, hence realized the following: 1- Raised the operating efficiency of the terminal in accordance with the international standards of airport management. 2- Improved the service for passengers, where the rate of take- off time for Kuwait Airways Company exceeded 90%. 3- Transferred the knowledge to the Kuwaiti youth, where intensive internal and external training programs have been initiated for a group of distinguished employees in the field of airport management. 4- Achieved additional revenues for the State, as it is expected for the Terminal to realize revenues exceeding 100 Million Dinars for the next five years. For his part, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Kuwait Airways Company – Mr. Yousef Al-Jassim said in a similar speech, that the company has focused its objectives on raising the percentage of punctuality, which has increased from 59% in August 2018 to nearly 93% last August after moving to the new terminal, which is considered an accomplishment. He pointed out that "Kuwait Airways" has achieved ninth place in punctuality among the 175 airline companies in Europe, Africa and Middle East, and achieved the first place among the airline companies in the Middle East as per the report of the British Agency (OAG) specialized in verifying the productive performance of the civil aviation sectors. He added that the company has finally attained the Five-Star rating for 2019 from the organization (APEX) for rating the international airline companies based on a neutral survey of a sample of clients dealing with the companies included in the assessment. He praised the role of the various government departments, which continued the day and night and realized remarkable accomplishment at the level of projects completion and within a record time. He stated that these efforts have contributed to operating and embracing nearly 4.5 Million passengers during the opening year and an average of 91 round-trip flights per day, with a total of nearly 33225 flights excluding the additional seasonal flights. He pointed out that during the period from 15 August 2018 till 14 August 2019, nearly 27,800 flights were operated and about 4.06 Million passengers were transported at Terminal (T4), expecting that the total number of passengers transported from and to Terminal (T4) by the end of this year will reach approximately 4.8 Million passengers. From his side, the Director of Engineering Department and General Supervisor of Terminal (T4) – Eng. Saleh Al-Fadaghi, said that the terminal represents a successful governmental model on the hands of Kuwaiti nationals, indicating that the terminal enjoys several favorable features such as its capacity of 4.5 Million passengers per year, parking capacity for 1800 cars, and 50 check-in counters. Moreover, the terminal generates revenues of 20 Million Dinars annually, and has raised traffic at the airport by 10%, indicating that the cost of the terminal reached 56 Million Dinars, and has provided 2000 jobs, which accounts for among its advantages. He pointed out that assigning the management of the terminal to a global operator has achieved several objectives, including raising the efficiency of operating the building in accordance with the international standards, improving the service rendered to the passengers, and transfer of knowledge to the Kuwaiti youth. Eng. Al-Fadaghi mentioned that the statistics of passengers and bags at the terminal since the start of operation and for one-year period, show that the terminal has served 26 Thousand flights with a total of 3.8 Million passengers and 4 million bags, indicating that the maximum number of flights per day reached 105 flights, while the maximum number of passengers reached 18 Thousand passengers.