included originating and terminating all
flights in Bahrain, and closing routes to
Johannesburg, Dublin, Jakarta, Singapore,
Hong Kong and Sydney. It also eliminated
all Boeing 767s and Airbus A340-300s
from the fleet, and introduced the Airbus
A321 in July 2007 as well as the Airbus
A330-300 in 2009. Potentially, Dosé also
wanted to terminate employment based on
poor performance and without regard to the
nationality of affected workers.
This led to unrest among the staff and
some employees applied for jobs at other
carriers. In less than a month, Gulf Air lost
500 people from its workforce, so mass lay-
offs as part of the recovery plan were ruled
out.STANDING ALONE
On May 5, 2007, the government of Bahrain
claimed full ownership of the airline when
Oman withdrew from the company. A few
weeks later, on July 23, André Dosé retired
as CEO due to clashes with other Gulf Airdirectors. He was replaced by Bjorn Naf. He
had previously worked as CEO for Transafrik
International in Kenya. His view of Gulf Air’s
situation was that it needed to expand to
survive.
It also established codeshare
agreements including with Oneworld’s
American Airlines and Royal Jordanian, and
Star Alliances’ Thai Airways and Egypt Air.
Gulf Air inaugurated a third daily service
to London Heathrow, besides flights to
Shanghai Pudong (from June 16, 2008 until
December 25, 2009).
On January 13, 2008, Boeing announced
a Gulf Air order for 24 Boeing 787-8
Dreamliners, which was subsequently
altered twice – on November 12, 2012 to 12
firm orders and four options and at the 2016
Bahrain Air Show, the 787-8s were converted
to 787-9s.
Orders for 15 Airbus A320s and 20 A330s
were announced during the ILA Berlin
Airshow in 2008.
On May 29, 2008, the last commercialBoeing 767 flight landed in Bahrain. The
same year, Gulf Air signed a six-year lease
for five aircraft (two Airbus A319s and three
Airbus A330-200s) with International Lease
Finance Corporation.
A second 42-months’ lease contract for
four Boeing 777-300ERs was confirmed in
March 2009 with Jet Airways, but the aircraft
were returned by September 2009.
In May, the airline started seasonal flights
to Alexandria, Aleppo and Salalah (in Oman)
and on September 1, 2009 it resumed flights
to Baghdad for the first time since 1991,
followed by Najaf and Erbil soon afterwards.
In 2010, Gulf Air received two Embraer
170s, on lease from the manufacturer, and
as the smallest aircraft in its fleet, they were
used on the Larnaca route. The aircraft
remained until 2012. Two E190s arrived in
2010, leaving in 2013 for Denim Air in the
Netherlands.
In March 2011 a single Boeing 737-
700 was leased briefly from Swiss-based
PrivatAir in order to cope with seasonal
traffic. The fortunes of Gulf Air were not only
dictated by competition from Qatar Airways,
Etihad and Emirates, however.
Local political problems darkened the
horizon. Due to domestic unrest, Gulf Air
had to suspend flights to Iran, Iraq and
Lebanon during the height of the Bahraini
uprising.
The airline originally planned to resume
flights to Iran from November 2012, but had
to cancel them as the Iranian authorities did
not grant authorisations. A religious divide
was at the heart of the tensions. Iran and
Iraq have Shiite Muslim religious sites which
Bahraini Shiites want to visit. At the same
time, the Bahraini Shiite majority complained
they had long been marginalised in political
and economic life by the Sunni rulers of
Bahrain. The government of Bahrain in turn
accused Iran of supporting the protests led
by majority Shiite Muslims, a charge which
Iran denied.
Mainly due to the political unrest in
Bahrain this cost Gulf Air $250m in 2011 and
$520m in 2012. The government of Bahrain
felt it had no other choice but to bail out the
ailing airline.60 Aviation News incorporating Jets April 2018Beechcraft B80 Queen Airs replaced the de Havilland Herons in 1981. Bob O’BrienThree Boeing 747-200s increased Gulf Air’s long-haul capacity between 1984 and 1985.
Wikimedia Commons/Michel GilliandBetween 1993 and 1996, a single Boeing 757-200F was leased for cargo operations. Wikimedia
Commons/Thursten Maiwald56-61_gulf_airDC.mfDC.mfDC.mf.indd 60 02/03/2018 17:32