Kuwait Airways Faces Tough Comeback Path : Persian Gulf: The national carrier will resume limited service March 19 despite massive damage to key facilities and the theft of two-thirds of its fleet.

Just a few days before the U.S.-led forces began the air war to drive the Iraqis from Kuwait, Kuwait Airways--grounded for months--wanted its U.S. customers to know that some semblance of the tiny country was still functioning.

In television commercials, the Kuwait national airline advertised flights it had begun from “New York to London, Cairo, the (Persian) Gulf and Bombay. Three days a week.” Then it made a vow that to many appeared somewhat audacious: “And to Kuwait any day now.”

When the allied bombers took to the air, Kuwait Airways was grounded again. But six weeks later, the goal of its jets again flying the skies of Kuwait appears attainable. The carrier is to resume limited service in other parts of the world March 19. It’s getting back into the air despite massive damage to key facilities in Kuwait city and the theft of two-thirds of its fleet.

But, as with many facets of life and commerce in Kuwait, Kuwait Airways, once a major operator in the Middle East, is a long way from getting back to business as usual.

“It will take a year or two before we can go back to our old kind of operations with this kind of a huge network,” Gerard T. Tateossian, U.S. general manager, said in an interview. “We have big hope to begin flying soon into Kuwait. Our chairman and other managers are there now assessing the situation.”

The invading Iraqi forces appear to have made the Kuwait city international airport one of their first targets when they stormed into the country Aug. 2. They destroyed Kuwait Airways ground facilities, including its maintenance base and its catering operations, Tateossian said. In addition to performing maintenance on its own fleet at the airport, the carrier also did maintenance work for other carriers stopping over in Kuwait city and provided meal services.

According to Kuwait air officials, the Iraqis stole trucks, forklifts and most of the airline’s spare parts. In addition, officials said, the Iraqis made off with 15 of Kuwait Airlines’ 23 planes. Many of the planes, Tateossian said, were repainted with Iraqi colors and logos. The eight planes still in the carrier’s possession--four Boeing 747s, three 727s and one 767--happened to have been out of the country when the Iraqis landed.

To restore its operations completely, Kuwait Airways must reassemble a fleet.

Faisal Alzaid, the carrier’s regional manager for Europe, said in an interview in London that five of the stolen jets, all made by Airbus, are known to be in good condition in Mashhad, Iran, near the border with the Soviet Union. During the war, news reports quoted sources who said some Kuwait Airways jets spotted in Iran were painted with military camouflage to make them look like Iraqi military planes flown to Iran. Alzaid said Kuwait Airways planes have also been sighted in Tunisia, Algeria and Mauritania.

A senior executive at Lloyd’s of London, which insured the fleet, confirmed the reports of Kuwait Airways planes sighted in Africa and Iran. Lloyd’s, which paid $225 million of the $300 million paid out on the planes, has hired investigators to track down the aircraft. “Obviously, we at Lloyd’s would be interested in recovering the planes,” the Lloyd’s official said.

On Tuesday, Iraq vowed to return all property stolen from Kuwait in a series of conciliatory moves aimed at softening its international image and at meeting allied cease-fire demands.

Meanwhile, Tateossian said the airline expects a court settlement will determine the remainder of its $600-million insurance claim for the missing aircraft. If the carrier cannot get any of the planes back, he said it will buy jets on the open market, since used jets seem to be plentiful.

Kuwait Airways was formed in 1962, the successor to Kuwait National Airways, which was established in 1954 with two Douglas DC-3s to fly between Kuwait and Basra, Iraq. According to Tateossian, Kuwait Airways has been consistently profitable. The first Arab airline with an all-jet fleet, it had $50 million in operating profits in 1989, he said.

The airline, which has about 6,000 employees, flew to 50 cities before the war. During the occupation, the airline’s management operated in exile from Cairo, although it could not continue flight operations. To show the Kuwait flag during the crisis, the carrier managed to begin flights from New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport to London, Bahrain and Bombay, India, in December. The allied bombing campaign forced it out of the air again in January.

“We had no choice,” Tateossian said. “Like all other carriers, we could not get insurance, and with us there was also the threat of terrorism.”

The limited resumption of service in two weeks will include two weekly flights from New York, London, Bahrain and Bombay and a third flight between Cairo, Bahrain and Bombay, airline officials said.

KUWAIT AIRWAYS * Founded: 1962 * Employees: 6,000 * Home base: Kuwait city * Flights: Served 50 cities before the outbreak of the Persian Gulf War. * 1989 operating profit: $50 million * Load factor (percentage of seats filled):

‘83-84 ‘84-85 ‘85-86 ‘86-87 ‘87-88 49.7% 50.2% 46.4% 52.5% 56.1%

* Number of paying passengers (millions):

‘83-84 ‘84-85 ‘85-86 ‘86-87 ‘87-88 1.493 1.512 1.455 1.497 1.486

Source: Kuwait Airways

Jeff Kaye, the Times correspondent in London, contributed to this article.