Kuwait Airways is cancelling flights rather than allowing Israeli passengers to fly. Picture: Bill Wilt
DID KUWAIT Airways just scrap an entire flight service to avoid carrying Israeli passengers?
Kuwait’s national airline has ditched its lucrative New York-to-London flight after US authorities threatened legal action over alleged discrimination.
Kuwait Airways told the federal Department of Transportation this week that it plans to discontinue its flights between the US and the UK. It did not say when the last flight on that route would be.
“On December 15th, Kuwait Airways informed the US Department of Transportation [DOT] that they will be eliminating service between JFK and London Heathrow,” said a department spokesman.
The feds were considering pulling Kuwait Airways’ permit to fly in the US because the airline was refusing to sell tickets to customers with Israeli passports.
The airline has at least twice refused to let customers with Israeli passports buy tickets on flights from New York to London because Kuwait has a law that prohibits its citizens from doing business with Israeli customers.
The DOT’s action followed a complaint from an Israeli citizen, Eldad Gatt, who said he attempted to buy a ticket online through Kuwait Airways in 2013, but could not select Israel as his passport-issuer.
The airline said it did not sell a ticket to Gatt in compliance with Kuwaiti law, which forbids doing business with Israel or Israelis.
It said it wasn’t discriminatory because it sells tickets to anyone regardless of race or nationality, provided they have a passport valid in Kuwait.
Jeffrey Lovitky, a lawyer representing Gatt, told CNN that Kuwait Airways’ move to cease the New York-London service failed to address the issue.
“It is unfortunate they have done this instead of accepting Mr Gatt as a passenger,” he told CNN.
“We would’ve preferred that Kuwait Airways relinquishes its continuing boycott of Israeli citizens.”
US politicians who had pushed for the airline’s permit to be cancelled say they are glad the company decided to ditch the flight.
“If you’re so anti-Semitic that you would rather cancel a flight than provide service to Israeli passport holders, then good riddance,” said Councilman Rory Lancman.
Online booking services showed no future flights available from the airline.
Kuwait Airways did not return calls for comment.
This article originally appeared on New York Post.
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