Phuket now has a direct link to Kuwait. Kuwait Airways' first non-stop flight from Kuwait to the island, KU407, landed at Phuket International Airport on Tuesday 27 October 2026, and the route will run twice a week from here on. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), the government agency that promotes Thai tourism, announced the arrival the same day and said a TAT team met passengers and crew with souvenirs.
The airline first set out the plan in August. Speaking to the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), as reported by Gulf News, acting chief executive Abdulwahab Al Shatti said Phuket would join the network from 27 October with flights on Tuesdays and Saturdays, giving travellers a way to reach the island without changing planes.
The timetable
According to TAT, KU407 leaves Kuwait at 03:30 on Tuesdays and 03:25 on Saturdays, reaching Phuket at 14:55 and 14:50 respectively. The return flight, KU408, leaves Phuket at 16:15 on both days and arrives in Kuwait at 20:35. Times are local at each end. TAT says the route uses a 278-seat Airbus A330neo and adds 556 inbound seats a week.
The Phuket flights sit alongside the airline's six weekly Kuwait to Bangkok services, so Kuwait Airways now operates eight flights a week to Thailand. TAT puts the airline's weekly inbound capacity at 2,560 seats across both airports, up 27.7 percent from 2,004 seats on the Bangkok route alone.
There is a peak-season plan too, but it is not yet a firm schedule. TAT says the airline intends to raise Phuket to as many as four flights a week between 2 December 2026 and 3 February 2027, subject to final scheduling and aircraft deployment. Anyone planning a December or January trip should check the airline's own booking system rather than rely on the extra frequencies.
Why it matters for Phuket
Kuwait is a small market by volume but a valuable one. TAT's figures show 48,049 Kuwaiti visitors to Thailand between 1 January and 20 October 2026, and the agency projects 55,300 for the full year; that second number is a forecast, not a result. TAT says Kuwaiti visitors spend an average of 96,590 baht per person per trip and stay about 13 nights, and that around 35 percent of them already go to Phuket.
For Phuket hotels, villa owners and tour operators, a non-stop Gulf route with long-staying family travellers is useful business heading into high season. TAT says it will work with the airline and travel trade on packages across Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi built around family holidays, private villas, halal dining and wellness. For Kuwait-based expats, and for Phuket residents with family or work in the Gulf, the practical change is simple: a journey that used to need a connection through Bangkok or another hub is now a single flight of a little over seven hours on the outbound leg.