Push to reorganise Kuwait Airways

Kuwait Airways Corp's privatisation committee said it recommended that the state-owned airline be reorganised before its sale, a proposal approved by Kuwait's Council of Ministers. The committee, which completed reviewing expressions of interest made to purchase a 35 per cent stake in Kuwait Airways, proposed a restructuring plan "taking into account the long-term strategic benefit to KAC and the economy of Kuwait," the committee said in an emailed statement yesterday. Kuwait's Cabinet will proceed with amending a law "to provide the legal framework for the restructuring and reformation of KAC prior to its privatisation," it said. Kuwait's parliament decided in January 2008 to sell shares in the airline, which hasn't had a profit since the 1990 Iraqi invasion. The government planned to offer 40 per cent of the stock to the public, 35 per cent to a strategic investor and 5 per cent to employees. The national flag carrier operates 17 aircraft. Capital Management Capital Management House, a Bahrain-based Islamic investment bank, made the third distribution of dividends to investors in its aircraft-leasing fund, the bank's chief investment officer said. Payments are calculated at 10 per cent a year for the period ending September 30, Mohammad Al Jasem said yesterday in a telephone interview. Investors in the fund include wealthy individuals and institutions from among the nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council, he said. The fund is structured around the acquisition of a Boeing 777-200ER aircraft from Emirates and an agreement to lease the jet back to the carrier for six years, Al Jasem said.