MC EXCLUSIVE Indian airlines rush to add more flights to Kuwait as New Delhi signs treaty with Gulf nation

Kuwait city, Kuwait

Domestic airlines from India including IndiGo, Air India, Akasa Air and Air India Express are fast-tracking their network planning to create capacity to add flights to Kuwait to take advantage of the new air treaty with Kuwait which will allow carriers from both countries to operate an additional 6,000 seats per week.

"Airlines in India are aggressively looking to add flight to Kuwait and are willing to forego operations on some domestic routes to take advantage of the new international opportunity," a senior industry insider aware of the ongoing developments told Moneycontrol.

He added that Akasa Air, IndiGo and Air India Express are all looking to add atleast 10 weekly flight to Kuwait from August 2025 and have started planning out their network accordingly.

Airlines are also frantically working with Kuwait International Airport for slots to take advantage of the new opportunity, executives from domestic airlines told Moneycontrol.

Senior executives from domestic airlines told Moneycontrol that as part of their submission IndiGo is likely to ask for an additional 5,000 seats weekly to Kuwait City as per its expansion plans. Similarly, Air India Express and Akasa Air are expected to ask for around 3,000 weekly seats while Air India will ask for an additional 1,500 seats a week.

"Airlines are planning to add flights from Chennai, Kochi, Bengaluru, and Thiruvananthapuram to Kuwait city due to high travel demand from these states," a senior executives from an Indian carrier told Moneycontrol.

India's aviation regulator the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has asked airlines to submit proposals by July 21 with the planned capacity expansion before it allocates capacity.

Earlier this week, India approved a significant 50 percent increase in flying rights for Kuwait, allowing a total of 18,000 seats per week between the two countries. The agreement, finalised between Indian and Kuwaiti civil aviation authorities on July 16, marks a strategic expansion from the previous limit of 12,000 seats per week.

More flights to Kuwait from Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka?

The additional 6,000 weekly seats will allow airlines from both nations to introduce more frequencies, deploy larger aircraft, or initiate new routes altogether. According to officials, this increase reflects the rising demand for air travel between India and Kuwait, driven by a large expatriate population, business engagements, and religious tourism. The Gulf nation is home to over 900,000 Indian nationals, making it one of the most significant diaspora hubs in the Middle East.

"Indian airlines had in July already started reducing domestic flights to focus more on international routes, as July to September is usually a seasonal down period of domestic air passenger traffic in India. The increased seats to Kuwait City come at a time when airlines are already looking to rework their networks," another airline executive told Moneycontorl.

Data shared by Cirium, an aviation analytics company, shows that airlines in India will operate 1159 fewer domestic flights per week in July 2025 when compared to June 2025.

While Air India had in the start of July 2025 announced a reduction plan for 5 percent for its schedule, most airlines have gone ahead with a cut in domestic schedule, with IndiGo’s cuts being even higher than 5 percent. IndiGo plans to operate 994 fewer weekly flights on domestic routes in July 2025 when compared to June 2025 which translates to a 7.6 percent drop in departures and 6.9 percent drop in seats on offer.

Similarly, Air India Express has also reduced domestic capacity by 2.7 percent sequentially in July 2025 and increased international departures by 4.7 percent sequentially in July.

What are bilateral traffic rights?

A bilateral air service agreement (ASA) or air transport agreement (ATA) is one whereby two nations allow their respective airlines to launch flights into each other's territory. Bilateral rights are national assets and are agreed upon between two countries not for the sake of enhancing transport alone, but also to further and deepen diplomatic ties.

The government and industry gets to negotiate the bilateral traffic rights. Currently, India has bilateral air service agreements with 116 countries. The last major increase in rights, on a busy route such as India-Dubai, was agreed in 2015.

As part of ASA agreements, both countries fix equal number of seats or air capacity that they can fly into each other's territory. Capacity is fix by either the number of flights (frequency) per week and the kind of aircraft that can be flown or by point of calls. Points of call are fixed number of cities that each country allows the other's airlines to fly into.