Kuwait Airways (KU, Kuwait) is in negotiations to lease six to eight aircraft for a period of 12 years in order to meet capacity targets, as it confronts possible delays of up to 12 months in the delivery of some of the Airbus aircraft it ordered last year.

The government-owned carrier concluded an agreement with the manufacturer in February 2022 to restructure its outstanding order book to receive 31 aircraft of various types, both narrowbodies and widebodies. It has so far taken delivery of 18 of these, its chief executive Maen Razouqi told Reuters in an interview on August 2.

Kuwait Airways later named the aircraft, on August 20, as eight A321neo aircraft, to be leased between eight and ten years. It added that it was examining offers from lessors and that these are in addition to the order for 31.

Airbus must take responsibility for any financial impact as a result of the expected delivery delays, Razouqi warned in the Reuters interview.

“We don’t get into disagreements, but the reality is that there are financial obligations that must be borne by the party responsible for the delay,” he explained to the news agency. “This is part of our restructuring discussions - that the financial obligations should be based on payments or credits [as an] offset for the delay.”

Kuwait Airways is discussing the issue with Airbus on a plane-by-plane basis, he added.

The company is aiming to increase passenger numbers to 5.5 million by 2025, Razouqi said, and it is in talks with lessors to acquire up to eight aircraft on 12-year leases. He reportedly commented that there is “intense competition” among them to forge such contracts as it does not delay payments.

Overall it is looking to increase its fleet to 50 aircraft by 2030, of which eight to ten of which will be leased.

Kuwait Airways posted a net loss of KWD55 million dinars (USD178.75 million) for 2022 but aims to achieve its first profit in 2025, the chief executive said. Ticket and onboard revenue rose by 30% in the first half of 2023 year-on-year and passenger numbers were up 45%, the airline announced separately this week.