Kuwaiti carrier Jazeera Airways has moved its flight operations to a Saudi Arabian airport following the closure of Kuwaiti airspace, with no indication of when flights from Kuwait City might resume, Reuters reported on March 25, citing the airline’s chief executive.
Jazeera Airways chief executive Barathan Pasupathi said the carrier relocated its operations to Saudi Arabia’s Al-Qaisumah airport on March 11. The airline is currently operating flights to seven countries from Saudi territory, though the services remain officially listed as departing from Kuwait.
Pasupathi said there was no data available on when Kuwaiti airspace might reopen.
A source in Middle East air traffic control services told TASS that Kuwaiti and Bahraini airspace would remain closed until at least 19:00 Moscow time on March 25, marking the 26th consecutive day of flight bans in both countries introduced following the US-Israeli military operation against Iran. Transit flights through their airspace to third countries are also not permitted.
Al-Qaisumah, located in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province near the Kuwaiti border, has emerged as an improvised operational base for the Kuwaiti carrier as the regional conflict continues to ground commercial aviation across the Gulf.
Jazeera Airways, which operates a low-cost model out of Kuwait International Airport, has been among the carriers most directly affected by the sustained airspace closures, which have now outlasted those seen during any previous Gulf crisis in recent decades.
Image courtesy of Flightradar on March 25, 16:48.