In order to avoid selling tickets to Israelis, Kuwait Airways has stopped its New York-London flight after the U.S. Transportation Department urged the airline to stop this illiegal discrimination.

According to press reports, the U.S. Transportation Department sent the airline a letter in September, warning it to end its discriminatory policy after a 2013 incident in which an Israeli citizen attempted to purchase a ticket on the airline's online booking system and was refused.

Gatt filed a complaint with the Transportation Department, saying he had been unable to buy a ticket from Kennedy Airport in New York to London's Heathrow Airport through Kuwait Airways because the airline's online booking system prevented him from selecting "Israel" as his passport-issuing country.

On October 29, the department ordered the airline to “cease and desist from refusing to transport Israeli citizens between the U.S. and any third country where they are allowed to disembark.”

Kuwait Airways explained its refusal to sell the Israeli citizen a ticket by saying it needed to comply with a Kuwaiti law barring citizens from agreements “with entities or persons residing in Israel, or with Israeli citizenship.”

In October, Kuwait was stripped of its Olympic qualifying status after an Israeli delegate was refused an entry visa in order to participate in the Asian Shooting Championship.