Kuwait will entirely close its airport, amid fears that the Coronavirus (Covid-19) could spread further in the small Arabic country.
On Wednesday evening, it was announced that Kuwait International Airport (IATA: KWI) will close, starting on Friday, for an indefinite period of time.
The airport is home to national carrier Kuwait Airways, which accounts for almost all commercial passenger flights to and from Kuwait. It operates a fleet of almost 30 aircraft, including Airbus A330 and Boeing 777 widebody jets, and has eight Airbus A330-800neo on order.
Following the Coronavirus outbreak, the airline had already cancelled selected flights due to newly imposed travel restrictions and reduced demand, but is now forced to temporarily suspend its entire route network.
According to Kuwait’s Ministry of Health, there are currently 72 confirmed cases of the virus in the country.
Kuwait Airport handled more than 15 million passengers in 2019.
Jakob Wert is an aviation journalist from Germany. He built up the website IFN.news and is the Editor-In-Chief of International Flight Network.
