Kuwait Airways (KU, Kuwait) is in talks with Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) over possible compensation for delivery delays, the carrier's chairman, Abdulmohsen Salem Alfagaan, has told the news agency Reuters in an interview.
"We are discussing it with them. There will be some compensation from Airbus themselves - they have to, because we are affected," he said.
The delays have forced the airline to adjust its network and reschedule flights, he added, although he did not want to speak about the lengths of deferrals or the aircraft types involved.
The airline currently has orders outstanding for seven A330-900 and two A350-900 widebodies, plus three A321-200NX(LR)s, six A321-200Ns, and one A320-200N, according to ch-aviation fleets data.
As ch-aviation previously reported, Kuwait Airways has been in negotiations this year to lease six to eight aircraft for a period of 12 years as it grapples with meeting capacity targets, due to delays of up to 12 months in the delivery of some of the Airbus aircraft that the government-owned carrier concluded an agreement for 18 months ago.
Alfagaan said that profitability this decade has been etched into the carrier's current business plan, but this will be hard to achieve without the additional new aircraft.
An Airbus spokesperson declined to comment to Reuters, saying that discussions with customers are confidential.
