BAHRAIN- The flag carrier of Bahrain, Gulf Air (GF) plans on increasing flights between its operating base, Bahrain (BAH), and London Heathrow Airport (LHR), its CEO Jeffrey Goh confirmed in an interview with Travel Weekly. Currently, GFA flies twice daily to London but wants to ramp up its frequency to continue competing with its Middle Eastern rivals.
Gulf Air’s CEO Jeffrey Goh revealed that the airline wants to up its flights to Heathrow by 30% but faces a challenge with respect to slots. As an alternative, flying to Gatwick (LGW) also remains an option, a step that the likes of Air India (AI) and Singapore Airlines (SQ) have recently taken.
Gulf Air facing fleet issues
Apart from the challenge of slots which Heathrow is facing, Gulf Air’s plans to expand its wings have also been thwarted by a lack of aircraft. Two of the carrier’s Boeing 787-9s have been grounded due to engine issues for the last few months with no optimism on their return so far.
GFA does have two Dreamliners on order alongside as many Airbus A321LRs, but it remains to be seen if their fleet size is enough to meet the rapidly increasing demand for air travel.
Goh even confirmed services to Munich, Singapore and Shanghai commenced recently while there are even plans to increase frequencies to Delhi and Mumbai. The CEO revealed plans of wanting to start a nonstop service to the US too, with New York JFK being mooted as the airline’s preferred destination.
Anticipates Optimum Growth
Though the recent past has seen Gulf Air lag behind the competition in the Middle East, there is optimism that the airline will soon be able to have a standing of its own in the region.
Jeffrey Goh has taken inspiration from Saudi Arabia’s commendable economic and social transformation and hopes that the KSA’s development will aid the overall growth of Bahrain too.
By 2028, he hopes to have better connectivity between Africa, Asia, and Europe before confirming that Bahrain is becoming a booming transit hub with almost 70% of the airline’s passengers flying through their primary hub connecting to other destinations.
Goh revealed that Gulf Air requires the airplanes it has ordered ‘very soon’ and that there are also plans to revamp the premium offerings on its flagship Boeing 787s. In addition to that, he hinted that the airline’s super competitive fairs and promotions are there to stay.
There was, however, no indication of any potential plans to order newer planes to aid GFA’s ambitious expansion strategies but Goh did say that he did not see it as an urgent objective.
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