Tourism Breaking News
Gulf Air in response to the surging travel demand will increase its direct flights to the Maldives capital, Male, to be daily starting from 15th August 2021. The route has been very popular in the recent months due to the relaxed rules and regulations for passengers to enter the Maldives which led passengers from Bahrain, the GCC and Europe to prefer the destination to many other Indian Ocean choices.
Commenting on this upgraded daily service to Male, Gulf Air’s Acting Chief Executive Officer Captain Waleed AlAlawi commented: “The decision to increase our flights to Male is a classic example of demand and supply. We witnessed a growing demand for travel to the Maldives, being a year-round destination and one that’s open for tourism. Going daily with our flights is a fantastic feature for passengers to be able to depart or return on any day of the week depending on their calendars”.
The airline recently upgraded its flights to Istanbul and Paris to become daily and restored its flagship double daily direct passenger flights to London Heathrow. It also extended the validity of miles of its loyalty programme, Falconflyer, to 31 December 2021. All miles, loyalty points and tiers that are expired or due to expire are now valid until the end of the year.
Gulf Air began the summer season with flights to 80% of its pre-pandemic network and it continued to resume operations and restore services to cities of its original 2019 destination network. The airline has also announced that it has successfully launched all of its seasonal destinations for the summer of 2021 with direct flights to Mykonos and Santorini in Greece, Malaga in Spain and Alexandria and Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt as well as recently resuming Tbilisi in Georgia. The airline currently flies to and from Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Kuwait, Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Medina, Muscat, Cairo, Amman, Casablanca, London, Paris, Frankfurt, Athens, Istanbul, Tbilisi, Larnaca, Bangkok, Manila, Singapore, Dhaka, Colombo, the Maldives and several destinations in India and Pakistan.
The airline operates all its flights by 100% vaccinated crew including pilots and flight attendants since May 2021 following an internal vaccination campaign for its operating crew and front line staff that began in December 2020 and is proud to be one of the first airlines in the world to able to provide peace of mind to all passengers flying to any destination of its growing network. Moreover, Gulf Air offers complimentary COVID-19 travel insurance coverage to all ticket holders including health and quarantine expenses in the unexpected circumstances of being diagnosed with or contracting COVID-19 during passengers’ journeys. All tickets booked, including redemption tickets, on Gulf Air flights for travel until 10 November 2021 are automatically covered with COVID-19 insurance at no extra cost. All passengers, according to the newly announced insurance policy and in the unfortunate event of being diagnosed with COVID-19 while traveling abroad, will be covered for repatriation assistance, medical and hospitals costs abroad as well as quarantine accommodation costs. Coverage is applicable on Gulf Air operated flights with Gulf Air ticket numbers that are purchased through the airline’s website, the Gulf Air Contact Centre, Gulf Air’s sales offices or travel agents.
Gulf Air has received Five Star Major Official Airline Rating at the APEX Future Travel Experience in December 2020, a rating programme is based solely on certified passengers’ feedback. This milestone for Gulf Air is a an upgrade to its previous Four Star Major Official Airline Rating earned in 2019 and a testament to the success of its boutique strategy and the ongoing enhancements to its products and services.
