Kuwait on Monday gave final approval for the privatization plans of loss-making Kuwait Airways, after parliament approved the plan earlier this year, the cabinet said.
Kuwait's parliament in January approved a long-delayed government plan to sell 40 percent of the carrier to the public and 35 percent to a long-term investor within two years.
"The council of ministers approved a draft decree... to turn Kuwait Airways into a private company," the cabinet said in a statement after its weekly meeting.
The plan still has to be approved by the Gulf Arab state's emir, who usually signs government-endorsed bills.
The airline's chairman, Hamad al-Falah, said last month he expected the carrier to be privatized within 10 months.
KuwaitAirways, which lost most of its fleet during Iraq's 1990-1991 occupation of Kuwait, has 17 aircraft.
The airline would not buy new aircraft until the privatization was complete, a company official said in February.
