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Gulf Air launches major turnaround
March 2nd 2018
Gulf Air was once the dominant airline in the Middle East. Read More » Then Emirates Airline, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways happened and Bahrain’s Gulf Air quickly got side-lined, bleeding money and shedding most of its long-haul routes for more regional flying.
The worst appears to be over for Gulf Air and the carrier is planning to grow and reconquer market share again.
This week, the Kresimir Kucko-led airline presented its growth strategy through to 2023, which is built on safety; network growth; innovation; human resources; customer focus; revenue vs. cost; and being a key of the local Bahraini economy.
In 2018, Gulf Air will be adding eight new destinations to its route map, comprising Bengaluru, Calicut, Abha, Tabuk, Alexandria, Sharm el Sheikh, Baku and Casablanca. Simultaneously, the carrier will increase the frequencies on several key routes, including flights to Europe and Asia.
In 2019-23, Gulf Air plans to launch flights to North America.
Over the course of the next five years, the airline will radically modernise and expand its fleet. Gulf Air has signed agreements for twelve A320neo, eight A321neo, nine A321LRs, 16 B787-9s on direct order from Boeing and five on lease from DAE.
Its current fleet comprises 16 A320ceo, six A321ceo and six A330-200s.
Gulf Air has not posted a net profit in almost a decade.
The Manama-headquartered airline used to fly to Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and Shanghai. At the moment, its Far Eastern network comprises Bangkok and Manila only.
