Kuwait will undertake a gradual and phased approach to opening Terminal 4 at Kuwait International airport, despite having seen the first flight off on 8 August.

“There’s an issue with the aircraft refueling facility at the new terminal… they are still working to fix it,” a source familiar with the project told MEED. This means planes landing in Terminal 4 will still need to refuel in the airport's old terminal, Terminal 1.

However, there are other factors that appear to have contributed to the delay in opening the new terminal.

According to a local media report on 28 August, a member of Kuwait’s parliament, Mohammad al-Mutair, accused the Kuwaiti government of “obstructing the work of a Korean company that won a contract to operate the new terminal”.

The alleged obstruction measures include the non-issuance of visas and residence permits to South Korea’s Incheon International Airport Corporation (IIAC), which won the $127.6m contract in April this year to operate and maintain the terminal for five years.

Minister of State for Housing and Services Affairs Jenan Bushehri denied the allegation, however, stating that the civil aviation authorities and other officials “have held regular meetings with the Korean company, which has not raised complaints related to visas or residence permits.”

Bushehri added that they expect the terminal to enter full operations “soon”.

Terminal 4, which can handle up to 4.5 million passengers annually, will cater exclusively to state-backed Kuwait Airways.

A team comprising Turkey’s Cengiz Insaat Sanayi Ve Ticaret and the local firm First Kuwaiti General Trading & Contracting Company built Terminal 4 for $174m. The terminal was originally designed as a temporary facility to absorb excess passenger traffic from the existing terminal while the $4.3bn Terminal 2 is built.

A new terminal at the airport dedicated to privately-owned, low-cost carrier Jazeera Airways opened in May this year. The terminal can handle up to 2.5 million passengers a year.

Kuwait’s third airline, Wataniya Airways, resumed operations in July last year. However, the airline has incurred frequent flight cancellations because it has only four Airbus A320 aircraft currently in operation. This persuaded the government to warn the carrier with a temporary suspension of its operating permit.

While the carrier last month placed an order for 25 new A320 aircraft worth an estimated $2.68bn, it is unclear when it will start receiving the new aircraft.

Kuwait International handled 13.7 million passengers in 2017, an increase of 17 per cent compared with 2016, and nearly three times the capacity of its existing main terminal.