Conditions of the nancial aid included
the selection of another CEO and the return
to Hogan’s restructuring plan. The staff was
reduced by 1,000 and it was also mandated
there be a minimum requirement for 76%
Bahraini personnel, meaning the airline
would have to let go a high proportion of
expatriate staff.
In November 2012, Gulf Air phased
out its last remaining Airbus A340-300.
Maher Salman Al Musallam was appointed
as acting CEO in December 2012. He
remained in this role for four years, being
con rmed as CEO in 2016
These measures paid off, and by
2015, Gulf Air – though not yet pro table- announced an 88% drop of its losses
compared with 2012 levels. In October
2015, Bahrain’s transport minister Kamal
Bin Ahmed said the airline aimed to clear
its debts by the end of 2016 and move
into expansion mode. It’s intended that
the airline will restore the previous size
of its eet and network over the next
decade.
On January 21, 2016 it con rmed its
future narrowbody plan, adjusting a previous
order with Airbus. To be delivered from
June 2018, the new assets will include 17
A321neo and 12 A320neo aircraft. The
aircraft order replaced a 2012 commitment
for ten A320neos and an earlier deal to
acquire six A330-300s. The new neo-series
aircraft will take over from the existing eet
of A320/321s. And the planned A330-300s
were axed after Gulf Air’s decision to base
its widebody strategy on the use of a future
eet of 787-9 Dreamliners. The rst of these
will arrive this year.
By the end of 2016, Gulf Air’s eet
comprised 16 A320 s, six A321s and six
A330-200s.
On November 13, 2017, Gulf Air decided
that ve of the number of 787-9s it is to
receive should be leased from Dubai
Aerospace Enterprise. The airline’s rst 787-
9 will be delivered this year and the initial
service will be to London Heathrow starting
in June.
Not only has the eet been expanding but
Gulf Air been growing its route network:- March 2016: Four additional afternoon
ights per week to Riyadh - April 2016: Return to Dhaka announced
- January 2017: Five weekly ights to
Colombo added
- January 2017: Five weekly ights to
- March 2016: Four additional afternoon
- June 2017: A Gulf Air aircraft made its
maiden ight to Tbilisi (Georgia) on a direct
three-weekly service basis - September 2017: Moscow ights
increased from four weekly to daily ights - September 2017: Daily ights to Istanbul
in direct response to passenger demand.
Network growth was supplemented by
a series of codeshare arrangements with
foreign carriers: - August 2017: Agreement with Aegean
Airlines of Greece - August 2017: Similar deal with Oman Air
for ights between Bahrain and Muscat - September 2017: Codeshare
with Turkish Airlines to expand travel
opportunities for passengers ying between
Bahrain and several Turkish cities.
Unfortunately, Gulf Air also had to cancel
its ights between Bahrain and Doha in the
wake of political disputes between Qatar
and other Gulf States.
The latest expansion appears to indicate
Gulf Air has managed to cope with past
challenges – shrinking from a four-hub,
multinational airline to a single-hub, national
ag carrier; political unrest in the area; Gulf
Wars, and stiff competition from Emirates,
Etihad and Qatar Airways.
Maher Salman Al Musallam, the CEO
who had guided the airline through this
difficult period and had reduced the airline’s
debts by 88% during his tenure, stepped
down in June 2017. He was replaced by
Krešimir Kucˇko, previously President and
CEO of Croatia Airlines.
A lot has changed for Gulf Air including it
now having more competitors in the region.
Thanks to turnaround programmes, started
under James Hogan, it is in a far better
position today than ten years ago and is
going in the right direction.http://www.aviation-news.co.uk 61In 2010, Gulf Air received two Embraer 170s on lease from the manufacturer. AirTeamImages.
com/Chris GoodwinGulf Air has 16 Airbus A320s and ordered the neo variant. AirTeamImages.com/Felix GottwaldThe Gulf Traveller subsidiary ew for four years from 2003.
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