Just 41% Full: Why This US Long-Haul Route Is So Empty

It's hard to imagine a long-haul route with a consistently poor load factor. But this is what Kuwait Airways seemingly experiences to or from New York JFK, which is, perhaps mercifully, its sole route to North America. In the 12 months to October 2025, it only filled 41% of the available seats. Why was this the case, and why does the airline continue to operate the service? Let's take a look for today's video. Looking at load factors is always intriguing, especially perhaps if they're abnormally low. For example, United Airlines International routes had loads as low as 49% while it was 52% for Delta. In most cases, specific reasons exist for such low loads. For example, Gulf Air only filled 42% of seats to or from New York JFK, but it's likely because the route from Bahrain only resumed on October 1st, 2025, after an absence of nearly 28 years. We're quite sure that it would have done better later in the year. But then there's this poorly performing route with Kuwait Airways. The Middle Eastern operator has served New York for more than four decades. For years, it actually stopped en route in Europe, particularly at London Heathrow Since then, all flights have been non-stop in both directions. According to US Department of Transportation data for November 2024 to October 2025, Kuwait Airways transported 91,089 passengers to or from JFK. Traffic fell from 125,351 passengers in the 12 months to October 2024, which was a significant reduction of 27%. The decrease, as notable as it was, was partly because fewer flights were available. Nearly a fifth fewer services existed in the 12 months to October 2025 compared with the prior 12 months. For example, four weekly departures were provided between November 2024 and April 2025, down from a daily service in the same months a year before. Traffic and seat load factors often vary depending on a route's direction for specific months. The US DOT data demonstrates this clearly for Kuwait-JFK-Kuwait. There's an inverse relationship, and directional imbalances can make planning significantly more challenging. But over the full 12-month period, the difference was less pronounced. Kuwait-JFK's average load was 42%, while it was only 40% flying back. We first have to ask ourselves if the DOT's data is correct. Given how poor the route seems to be, it'd be perfectly fair to question it. This is especially the case when March 2025 data is considered. At that time, just 19% of seats were filled back to the Gulf, against 45% on flights to the Big Apple. No month and no direction had a load higher than 61%. But assuming the data is accurate, subsequent moves by Kuwait Airways have us scratching our heads. The airline increased flights to JFK in 2026. A daily service is scheduled throughout 2026 with the 334-seat Boeing 777-300ER exclusively deployed. The frequency increase obviously means that available capacity has risen too. As such, unless changes occur, it'd be easy to conclude that loads will be even worse this year, and it's quite likely that yields will fall further as well. Sticking to the November 2024 to October 2025 period, booking data shows that nearly 8 in 10 passengers connected to another flight at Kuwait International Airport. Predictably, the bulk of the passengers traveled to India and Bangladesh, distantly followed by the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Nepal, Pakistan, and Thailand. The problem, as always, is relatively low fares and yields, with the vast distance clearly not helping. So why does Kuwait Airways continue to operate half-empty flights halfway around the world? Well, as we just explained, onward connecting flights may offset the poor load factors of one leg, though probably not by much. Cargo may be another reason. These considerations, combined with the fact that the carrier is 100% owned by the oil-rich nation, and we can see that the airline may not actually care all that much about seat load factors. But what do you think of what's going on here? Let us know by leaving a comment. In addition to our daily YouTube videos, Simple Flying publishes over 150 articles every week. If you're looking for the latest aviation news and insights, visit SimpleFlying.com.