Hi all,
This is about my trip back home to Iran and to the Arabic countries in the Persian Gulf area, you can see all parts here:
Toronto to Frankfurt- Air Canada: http://flight-report.com/en/report-9253.html
Frankfurt to Tehran- Lufthansa- Tehran Pictures: http://flight-report.com/en/report-9322.html
Tehran- Shiraz- Tehran- Mahan Air: http://flight-report.com/en/report-9666.html
Tehran to Kuwait- Kuwait Airways: http://flight-report.com/en/report-9383.html
Kuwait to Dubai- Kuwait Airways: http://flight-report.com/en/report-9456.html
Dubai to Doha- Qatar Airways: http://flight-report.com/en/report-9501.html
Doha to Bahrain- British Airways: http://flight-report.com/en/report-9519.html
Bahrain to Kuwait- United Airlines: http://flight-report.com/en/report-9554.html
Kuwait to Dubai- Fly Dubai: http://flight-report.com/en/report-9600.html
Dubai to Vienna- Austrian Airlines: http://flight-report.com/en/report-9622.html
Vienna to Toronto- Austrian Airlines: http://flight-report.com/en/report-9629.html
I was travelling to Dubai from Tehran. There are many option with direct flights such as Iran Air, Mahan Air or Emirates but since I always wanted to try Kuwait Airways, I chose this airline with a 2 hour connection in Kuwait.
Approaching Tehran;s International airport which is located around 30 KM south of Tehran
The terminal building
The curbside
A walkway tunnel connecting the terminal to the parking and the hotel
The ibis/Novotel hotel
Inside- very spacious and nice clean terminal
European carriers and Europe bound flights are mostly in middle of the night from 1 to 5 am and in the morning there are mostly flights to Dubai, Iraq and other neighboring countries along with Iran Air flights to europe
Exploring the landside
There are a row of luggage belts to the right side and the left side, this is looking down to the left side ones
Downstairs- left side arrival part, there are restos on the arrival side than the departures area
This is the main and the right side arrival hall and baggage claim
Back up at the departures level
Past the security check- The check in counters are past the secuirty check and only passengers are allowed to come here
There are many rows of check in desks I think around 10 rows
Advertisement of Turkish that says 5 daily flights to Istanbul
The check in counters for Kuwait Airways
After check in is the passport control and then you go airside- These are the passport control line ups
Airisde- There are shops around in the center with a coffe shop to the left and a resto at the right, you can't go to the boarding gates area till about 1 hour before departure. Once your gate is called then you can go to the final security check at the gates section
The passport contorl is visible here and people passing through
Downstairs are the washroom,s Lounges and some banks
Qatar just arrived from Doha
Tehran is up there at the foot of those mountains
Emirates arrving from Dubai
Back upstairs
The entrance to the gates areas
Qatar departing to Doha
Emirates also pushing back to Dubai- I went to the airport early that's why I saw them all come in and leave lol
Yay, My plane arriving from Kuwait
I love the Kuwait livery so beautiful :)
Emirates taking off
Azerbaijan landing from Baku
Mahan to Yerevan
Then I passed through secutiry check for the gates and walked towards my gate
Gates area
Kuwait :)
Our gate
Boarding
When you enter the crew asks where your seat number is and walk with you and show you the seat. That was very nice of them and I had not seen it anywhere else
The seats were comfortable with a good legroom
Window view
The duty free magazine
The inflight magazine
A fun map of Kuwait city
Route map
Push back
Passing next to many cool Iranian carriers
Take off
Tehran is not visible as it's very far, only some small towns here
Lunch service
The meal tasted nice
Descend into Kuwait
Kuwait city
The amazing and huge Avenues Mall. It's length is twice the length of Dubai mall and it has between 800 to 900 stores. It spans for 2 big city blocks. An amazing place and architecture and a must see when in Kuwait.
The VIP terminal
Airport terminal
These 2 gates are reserved for Jazeera Airways only
When you disembark, you enter the departures level/air side and don't need to pass through security again to go to transit
Hope you enjoyed this FR :)
Thanks for your Report. The cabin looks very outdated and run down but globally the flight seems ok.
Kuwait airways really needs a product upgrade
The spotting at IKA and on arrivals is great !
Thanks Skyteam, yes they really need to upgrade the airline. For now it just does the job right.
Very excellent report
Thanks so much :)
Thanks for sharing another beautiful report.
IKA looks like an excellent airport for spotting and it is quite modern inside. Nobody told you anything about taking pictures of the counters and the entrance to the gates?
KU provides an acceptable product and at least they make the effort to provide a warm snack.
Thanks so much Jetsetpanda. Yes, Tehran's airport is very nice and although not very big, it has a very nice and good vibe. No, in Iran it's not hard to take pictures, no one told me anything. You just can't take pictures of government buildings other than that they don't really care :)
The decoration at IKA is outdated, but the airport seems efficient. The plane spotter friendliness is a distinct plus; thanks for letting us share it !
I dislike airports where the security check is at gate level, locking you in a boarding room where there is little to do and space to move around.
KU's offering is decent for a regional flight of that duration.
The reddish lighting at KWI looks strange : is that due to image postprocessing ?
Thanks for this comprehensive FR !
Thanks Marathon, Yes, I also don't like when security is at gates and you can't hang out and walk around the whole airport. There was a heavy smog and haze in Kuwait so I had to process the images a bit to show the buildings a bit more but it was pretty much the same color.
Thanks to sharing this flight report. Good idea to try this airlines and maybe also safer than mahan air ??
I don't know this last one go to Yerevan...
Thank you 02022001, Mahan Air has many international destinations and their safety has been good.
Thanks for sharing this beautiful and exotic report! Tehran airport looks bigger than I thought it would be. Nice plane spotting at IKA! The cabin of your A320 does look old, but the older style seats with a lot of padding are often more comfortable than newer style slim seats.
Thanks so much Kevin, yes the seats certainly had older looks and more padding.
Hey Whitelight44, thanks a lot for this amazingly detailed FR with heaps of superb pictures. I liked the fact that you were impressed with KU, but as a resident of Kuwait, I felt that this was outdated, now that KU have new and modern fleet in their hands.
Great to know that they still have fine service, though it is not the kind that Emirates or Qatar Airways serves. Thanks a lot once again.
I am known for my detailed reviews but I have to say I am deeply impressed with the passion, effort and excellence shown in this report ! I loved the Planespotting - what a treat for the eyes before the actual flight which was well covered ! Well done and I am so happy to be in the company of such an amazing Flight Reporter !