India, Kuwait revise air service pact to increase flights

Airlines from India and Kuwait operate around 40 daily flights between the two countries. 
| Photo Credit:
Niranjana P S _12133@Chennai

India and Kuwait have revised the air service agreement enabling carriers from both countries to increase flights.

The move follows discussions between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Kuwaiti counterpart Sheikh Ahmed Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah last December.

Until now carriers from both the countries were allowed to deploy 12,000 seats per week and now this has been increased to 18,000 seats per week.

A memorandum of understanding was signed by Civil Aviation Secretary Samir Kumar Sinha and Sheikh Humoud Mubarak Humoud Al-Sabah, president of Kuwait’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation in Delhi on Tuesday to revise the existing agreement.

Airlines from India and Kuwait operate around 40 daily flights between the two countries. This includes Air India Express, Akasa Air, IndiGo, Jazeera Airways and Kuwait Airways.

Additional flights

Airlines from Kuwait are entitled to operate flights to eight cities in India. Additionally, Kuwait requested permission to operate flights to Goa, Lucknow, Kannur and other destinations but India did not agree to its request for additional “points of call”.

The air service agreement between the two countries was last revised in 2007. Kuwait has been pressing for an increase in seat entitlements as it exhausted the quota and thus it’s airlines have been unable to increase flights to India.

It argued that while traffic has grown the number of flights has not increased. Carriers from India and Kuwait are losing traffic to third country airlines, it pointed out.

Over a million Indians reside in Kuwait making them the largest expatriate community in the country. Many of them are blue collar workers and an increase in flights will help in lowering of airfares.

Indian carriers will also benefit from availability of slots at Kuwait airport. Kuwait has also agreed to remove a condition that required family visa holders to travel on its national carriers, it is learnt.

“Interests of Indian carriers have been safeguarded,” a source said.

Since early 2024 India revised bilateral seat entitlements with Thailand, the UK, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Indonesia enabling additional flights. However, India has been resisting requests from West Asian countries for an increase in seats.

In fact last year India had proposed grant of three seats to Indian carriers for every additional seat granted to Kuwait. This was unprecedented as seat entitlements are exchanged on a reciprocal basis. As such the proposal did not move forward and Kuwait rejected the idea.

The move to increase sir connectivity again gathered steam last December during Prime Minister’s visit and India and Kuwait decided to hold talks to find a “mutually acceptable solution” on increasing flights between the two countries. 

Published on July 16, 2025

_{Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.}