Gulf Air

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Gulf Air
طيران الخليج
Gulf Air logo
Gulf Air Boeing 787-9
IATA code : GF
ICAO code : GFA
Call sign : GULF AIR
Founding: 1950
Seat: Muharraq , Bahrain
BahrainBahrain 
Turnstile :

Bahrain Airport

Home airport : Bahrain Airport
IATA prefix code : 072
Management: Maher Salman Al Musallam
Frequent Flyer Program : FalconFlyer
Fleet size: 34 (+ 43 orders)
Aims: international
Website: www.gulfair.com

Gulf Air ( Arabic طيران الخليج, DMG Ṭayarān al-Ḫalīǧ ) is the state airline of the Kingdom of Bahrain based in Muharraq and based at Bahrain Airport . She is a member of the Arab Air Carriers Organization .

history

Foundation and first years

In the late 1940s, British pilot Freddie Bosworth began an air taxi service from Doha and Dhahran to Bahrain . In 1950 he expanded and registered his airline as a private company under the name "Gulf Aviation". The fleet at that time consisted of seven Avro Anson and three De Havilland DH.86 Express ; but these planes were not enough. Since the fleet was in need of modernization, Bosworth chose the De Havilland DH.104 Dove as the new type. However, he did not experience the floatation of the type because he suffered a fatal accident during a demonstration flight in Croydon on June 9, 1951.

From 1951, BOAC began a long-term commitment to the airline, which lasted until 1971. She became the main shareholder of Gulf Avitation with a share of 22%. From April 1970, London was also included in the flight network, a Vickers VC10 was used as an aircraft .

Since 1970

Gulf Air Vickers VC10 from 1977
Gulf Air Lockheed L-1011-300 TriStar from 1983

After the BOAC's involvement was ended, Bahrain , Qatar , Abu Dhabi and Oman took over the shares. On January 1, 1974, the Gulf Avitation was then the national airline of the four states and renamed to the name Gulf Air used to this day .

Immediately it was decided to expand the fleet: the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar and Boeing 737 were leased and the route network was massively expanded with them.

As the aviation industry continued to grow in the 1980s, Gulf Air also grew. In 1981 it became a member of IATA . In 1988, the first Boeing 767s joined the fleet, with which flights to Frankfurt am Main were started.

Since 1990 partner countries have left

In 1992, Gulf Air was the first Arab airline to fly to Australia . In 1993, Qatar left Gulf Air and founded its own airline, Qatar Airways .

At the same time, Oman participated in the newly founded Oman Air and thus also competed with Gulf Air.

The addition of the Airbus A340-300 in May 1994 brought a further leap in capacity .

Since 2000

Gulf Air Airbus A330-200 in Bahrain Grand Prix special livery

When the airline celebrated its 50th birthday in 2000, the first Airbus A330-200s were added to the fleet. However, due to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 in the USA , the incumbent President and Chief Executive Officer James Hogan initiated a three-year restructuring program that led to a completely new corporate concept to counteract the steady increase in debt. The three-year plan was unanimously adopted in December of that year, but Qatar parted ways with its stake in the airline.

In 2003 the corporate design of Gulf Air was completely overhauled in order to improve the negative image of the airline, also caused by various crashes. On June 1, 2003, a subsidiary was founded with Gulf Traveler . In 2004 the return to profitability was announced with the best result since 1997.

In 2005 he left Abu Dhabi

In September 2005, Abu Dhabi decided to withdraw from the airline as it competed with Gulf Air with Etihad Airways . As a result, Abu Dhabi was removed from the flight plan in 2006.

At the end of April 2006, an Open Skies Agreement was signed with Thailand , which guaranteed an unlimited number of flights between Bahrain and Thailand.

The airline had 5,400 employees in August 2007, a number likely to decline over the next few years due to an early retirement program. An airline alliance (such. As Star Alliance ) is Gulf Air not. However, it works with various airlines, including American Airlines , Olympic Airways , KLM Royal Dutch Airlines , Saudi Arabian Airlines , Royal Jordanian and Thai Airways International . The airline is the main sponsor of the Formula 1 Grand Prix taking place in Bahrain .

In the summer of 2006, James Hogan left Gulf Air and switched to competitor Etihad Airways. On January 31, 2007 it was announced that the Swiss André Dosé , formerly head of the airlines Crossair and Swiss , would take over the position of CEO of Gulf Air on April 1, 2007. André Dosé announced his resignation as CEO of Gulf Air in July 2007. Conflicts between management and the board of directors are said to have prompted the Swiss to take this step. His successor was Björn Näf, also a former Swiss manager, who initially headed Gulf Air on a temporary basis and was officially confirmed as CEO in January 2008.

From 2007 only Bahrain

In December 2007, the process of registering all 30 of the airline's aircraft in Bahrain was completed. Gulf Air is now wholly owned by the Kingdom of Bahrain through its Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company . Gulf Air is now considered to be a national Bahrain airline, just like Bahrain Air, founded in 2007 .

An order for 16 Boeing 787-8s was announced in early 2008 . These are to be delivered from 2016 [obsolete] .

In November 2009, Gulf Air announced that it would withdraw from the long-haul sector as part of a strategy change. Instead, the new CEO, Samer Majali, plans to intensify activities in the Middle East and, in the future, also in the regional area, and only to maintain the long haul to financial centers. This realignment should make the loss-making flight operations profitable again. In November 2009 it was still unclear what would become of the orders for the long-haul Boeing 787 and Airbus A330 jets .

Since 2010

In February 2012, Gulf Air cut less frequented routes from the flight plan as part of an austerity program from March 2012. Athens, Milan and Kuala Lumpur were affected. In addition, the flight connection to Damascus was suspended due to the civil war in Syria .

In April 2012 the government launched a € 3.6 billion support package for Gulf Air after it posted a loss of € 405 million in 2011.

In February 2014, Gulf Air canceled an order for two Airbus A319-100s .

In January 2016, Gulf Air converted the 787-8s that had been ordered into 787-9s. Two more were ordered in addition to the ten Airbus A320neo . 17 Airbus A321neo were also ordered. However, the order for A330-300 machines was canceled.

A completely new brand identity was announced at the beginning of April 2018.

Destinations

Gulf Air mainly flies from Bahrain to destinations in the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent. Furthermore, destinations in Europe and Africa are served. In the German-speaking area , Frankfurt am Main is the only destination.

fleet

Gulf Air Airbus A320-200
Gulf Air Airbus A321-200

As of March 2020, the Gulf Air fleet consists of 34 aircraft with an average age of 6.2 years:

Aircraft type number ordered Remarks Seats
( Business / Economy )
Airbus A220-100 10 - open -
Airbus A320-200 16 A9C-AD in Bahrain International Airshow - special livery; should be retired by 2023 110 (14/96)
136 (16/120)
Airbus A320neo 5 7th 136 (16/120)
Airbus A321-200 6th should be retired by 2023 169 (8/161)
Airbus A321neo 17th including 9 LR - open -
Boeing 787-9 7th 9 282 (26/256)
total 34 43

The last commercial flight of an Airbus A330-200 took place in January 2020 . The total of 12 aircraft used were in use for Gulf Air from December 2007, half of which were leased, with some of the leased being returned as early as 2009 to 2014. The A9C-KB aircraft in had special paintwork on the Bahrain Grand Prix .

Incidents

  • On August 23, 2000, an Airbus A320 of Gulf Air ( A4O-EK ) crashed into the sea after a nightly go-around at Bahrain airport because the pilots had lost control of the aircraft. All 143 occupants, 135 passengers and eight crew members were killed (see also Gulf Air flight 072 ) .

See also

Web links

Commons : Gulf Air  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ aerosecure.de - Gulf Air security profile
  2. ↑ aerosecure.de - Gulf Air crisis continues
  3. ↑ aero.de - Gulf Air orders 16 Boeing 787s  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.aero.de  
  4. ↑ airliners.de - Gulf Air doesn't want long-haul flights anymore
  5. ↑ nur-flug-tours.de - Gulf Air cancels unprofitable routes, February 21, 2012 ( Memento of the original from December 31, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nur-flug-tours.de
  6. ↑ aerotelegraph.com - State must shore Gulf Air, accessed April 12, 2012
  7. ↑ ch-aviation - Gulf Air cancels order for two A319s (English), accessed on February 11, 2014
  8. ↑ Gulf Air buys from Airbus and Boeing , accessed February 2, 2016
  9. ↑ Gulf Air ups A320neo order but cancels new A330s , Flightglobal, January 21, 2016
  10. ↑ Gulf Air changes its clothes. Aero Telegraph, April 12, 2018.
  11. ↑ gulfair.com - Our Destinations (English), accessed on November 6, 2015
  12. ^ A b Gulf Air Fleet Details and History. Retrieved March 18, 2020 .
  13. ↑ Airbus - Orders & deliveries (English), accessed on March 24, 2017
  14. ^ Boeing - Orders and Deliveries , accessed on March 24, 2017
  15. ↑ Bombardier Aerospace - Commercial Aircraft Status Reports ( Memento of the original from September 5, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), accessed November 6, 2015 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bombardier.com
  16. ↑ gulfair.com - Our Fleet , accessed on November 6, 2015
  17. ↑ A9C-AD Gulf Air Airbus A320-214. In: planespotters.net. December 29, 2010, accessed August 14, 2019 .
  18. ↑ A9C-KB Gulf Air Airbus A330-243. In: planespotters.net. December 11, 2016, accessed on August 14, 2019 .
  19. ↑ accident report B 737-200 A4O-BK , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 17, 2018th
  20. ↑ Accident report A320 A4O-EK , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 17, 2018.