The carrier traces its history back to 1953,[nb 1] when Kuwait National Airways was formed by a group of Kuwaiti businessmen; initially, the government took a 50% interest.

[5]: 211 [6] That year, a five-year management contract was signed with British International Airlines (BIA),[7] a BOAC subsidiary in Kuwait that operated charter flights and provided maintenance services.

[4][nb 3] On 8 August 1962,[5]: 210  Kuwait Airways became the first foreign customer to order the Trident when two aircraft of the type were acquired, and an option for a third was taken.

[19] In March 1964, the carrier added its first European destination to the route network when flights to London were inaugurated using Comet equipment; from that time, services between London and some points in the Middle East, including Abadan, Bahrain, Beirut, Dhahran, Doha and Kuwait, started being operated in a pool agreement between the carrier and BOAC and MEA.

[22]: 855 [23] In April 1965, the route network had expanded to include Abadan, Baghdad, Bahrain, Beirut, Bombay, Cairo, Damascus, Doha, Frankfurt, Geneva, Jerusalem, Karachi, London, Paris and Tehran.

At this time, the fleet comprised two Comet 4Cs, three DC-6Bs, two Twin Pioneers and three Viscount 700s; the carrier had two Trident 1Es and three One-Elevens pending delivery.

[26] On the other hand, the One-Elevens were never delivered: in January 1966 the carrier stated that the simultaneous introduction of both types of aircraft was not possible due to a tightened budget, and postponed their delivery;[27] it was informed late that year that the airline would not take them.

[32] In a deal worth US$14 million, two additional ex-Pan American Boeing 707-320Cs were subsequently purchased that year, with the first one entering the fleet in May.

In October 2015, at the conclusion of an investigation, the Department of Transportation issued Kuwait Airways an order to "cease and desist from refusing to transport Israeli citizens between the U.S. and any third country where they are allowed to disembark"[58] In the letter, the DOT also accused Kuwait Airways of following the Arab League boycott of Israel.

[62] The matter was settled on 15 December 2015, when Kuwait Airways informed the United States Department of Transportation that it would eliminate service between JFK and London Heathrow, with The Daily Telegraph reporting that tickets for the route were no longer being sold effective the following week.

Councilmember Lancman responded by saying "If you're so anti-Semitic that you would rather cancel a flight than provide service to Israeli passport holders, then good riddance.

"[63][64] A similar lawsuit was filed in 2017 by the Lawfare Project against the airline for refusing to allow Israelis on a flight from Frankfurt to Bangkok with a layover in Kuwait.

Unlike the case of the New York to London route, in this lawsuit, the German court upheld the right of the airline to refuse passengers with Israeli passports to layover in Kuwait.

[67] Privatisation started being considered in the mid-1990s, in a period that followed the Gulf War when the carrier experienced a heavy loss on its assets.

[71] However, in October that year the committee recommended the airline to go through a reorganisation process before continuing with the privatisation programme,[72] something that was approved by Kuwait's Council of Ministers.

[70] The privatisation draft was amended[73][74] and the government signed a contract with the International Air Transport Association for the provision of consultation expertise.

[citation needed] In October 2013, Kuwait Airways had one of the oldest aircraft fleets in the Middle East, with an average age of 20 years.

[114] Also in December 2014, Kuwait Airways took delivery of its first sharketled Airbus A320 as part of the airline's fleet renewal programme.

[115] By March 2015[update] Kuwait Airways received four leased aircraft of the type, marking the first fleet upgrade in 17 years.

[122] In August 2019, Kuwait Airways Chairman Yousef A. M. J. Alsaqer stated that the airline plans to spend $2.5 billion on new aircraft due to be delivered by 2026.