In a bid to trim costs the carrier will replace its five, four-engine A340s with four, twin-engine Boeing 777-model planes as it continues with its turnaround programme.
“Gulf Air plans to return to profitability by 2010 as the massive turnaround programme the airline is undergoing starts to pay off ,” CEO Bjorn Naf said.
Since 2007, the loss-making carrier cut its network and jobs and started to renew its fleet, after announcing losses of more than US$1 million a day. However, Naf declined to disclose the current size of losses.
In December, Gulf Air announced that it intends to take delivery of four Airbus A330 wide-bodies and five A320s. Aside from seeking to expand its route network in Europe and India, the airline is also considering flights to the US, with a target of achieving profi tability by 2013 or earlier.
Gulf Air and Bahrain Airport Services (BAS) have renewed their long-standing ground handling contract along with a new service level agreement based on a high performance-driven co-operation. The renewal was formulated on new ground handling agreements between the sister companies.
Gulf eyes regional cargo
In Pakistan, Gulf Air has introduced self-handling for cargo sales as part of the airline’s growth and expansion strategy.
“Pakistan is one of the top cargo selling destinations in Gulf Air’s network and we hope to add value by having our own dedicated team look after this important cargo market,” according to Gulf Air acting head of cargo Khalid Hassan.
A regional cargo manager, based in Karachi, has also started looking after the Pakistan cargo market as well as operations out of Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
In order to boost the carrier’s activities, Gulf Air has also strengthened its sales division with the appointments of Essam Al Hammadi as general manager Bahrain and the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, and Yaqoob Abdulla Yaqoob as general manager for Central and Western Provinces of Saudi Arabia.
Ahmed Ramadan takes over as area manager Bahrain and Yousef Saeed has been appointed area manager Eastern Province.
No change to newbuild order
In September, Gulf Air firmed up an order for eight new Boeing 787s, raising to 24 the total number of new planes it is awaiting delivery.
The Gulf Arab kingdom already had an order for 16 Boeing 787s – due for delivery in 2016 – with an option to add eight more. No value was available for the order, but all 24 were worth about US$3.9 billion at list prices when the deal was struck in January.
Earlier last year, Gulf Air said it had no plans to cancel its Boeing order after the plane maker announced a further six month production delay that had airlines lining up for compensation.
Gulf Air handles a variety of air freight products from dangerous goods to live animals, including perishable cargo to hard cargo. The airline’s product line has been designed to provide value for money backed with experts providing exceptional service.
The airline’s comprehensive computerized cargo systems monitor all consignments every step of the way from origin to destination and all stations in between. Gulf Air’s unaccompanied courier service has been implemented to provide customers such as DHL, UPS, FedEx, Aramex and TNT with effective services including easy and faster customs clearance at the destination.
The service offers priority uplift and confirmed allocation on the required flight. Courier bags or units can be moved as cargo or as excess baggage. Couriers are handled on a priority basis, being the last material to be loaded and the first to be offloaded at the final destination, an airline spokesman said.
