Tag Archives: Gulf Air

Gulf Air, the national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain, is onboard once again, supporting ‘Shop Bahrain’ for the fourth consecutive year as official airline of the nationwide shopping festival. As a strategic partner of ‘Shop Bahrain’, Gulf Air is providing more than 6,000 airline tickets at discounted prices as raffle prizes. In addition, Gulf Air customers will receive 4 points for every 1BHD spent when purchasing flights throughout the festival period which runs until February 10, 2018. Captain Waleed Abdulhameed Al Alawi, Deputy CEO, Gulf Air, said, “We are delighted to partner with ‘Shop Bahrain’ once again. This strategic partnership is in line with Gulf Air’s ongoing commitment to support initiatives that help drive the growth of the tourism, retail and hospitality sectors in the Kingdom of Bahrain. It is fitting that we collaborate in this regard, further strengthening Bahrain’s positioning as an attractive destination regionally, while helping to showcase the Kingdom’s tourist attractions and encourage visitors to experience the trademark Arabian hospitality.” Yousef Al Khan, Director, ‘Shop Bahrain’, stated, “This year, we have been coordinating with Gulf Air and various hotels in the Kingdom to develop attractive tourist packages. We aim to offer visitors an unforgettable shopping experience packed with fun-filled events and promotions.”.

Effective from November 1, 2017, Gulf Air and Turkish Airlines signed a codeshare agreement to expand travel opportunities for the passengers of both airlines with daily flights between Bahrain and Istanbul. The signing ceremony took place at Turkish Airlines’ Istanbul headquarters. Gulf Air’s Captain Waleed Abdul Hameed Al Alawi and Turkish Airlines’ Deputy Chairman and CEO, Bilal Ekşi signed the agreement together in the presence of senior officials from both airlines. This new agreement will be applied to the flights operated by both carriers to Manama and Istanbul, broadening the commercial partnership between the two companies and their respective countries while providing passengers with more travel options. Gulf Air and Turkish Airlines has one daily flight each between Bahrain and Istanbul.

Gulf Air recently hosted key travel industry representatives in Abu Dhabi at an event that showcased the airline’s latest developments and customer-focused initiatives. The event was hosted by Gulf Air’s Country Manager in Abu Dhabi, Madina Abdulla Albalushi. Most recently, Gulf Air launched passenger-oriented facilities like prepaid seat selection, excess baggage permit and lounge access, all aimed at making travel more comfortable for passengers while giving them greater control to manage various add-ons pre-travel. It also rolled out options for their travellers to know the flight status as well as do group bookings online. Amongst its most highly anticipated upcoming initiatives is the rolling out of its dedicated holiday unit ‘Gulf Air Holidays’, which would offer travellers a wide range of holiday packages and tailor-made travel solutions to destinations worldwide. The airline is also preparing to launch an online visa facility this summer that will support its longstanding efforts to promote the Kingdom of Bahrain as a destination to a broad spectrum of travellers, while making the process of obtaining a short-term-visit visa to Bahrain more convenient.

Gulf Air recently celebrated the launch of its thrice-a-week direct service to the Georgian capital Tbilisi. The celebration took place at Bahrain International Airport, in the presence of the Georgian Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Sultanate of Oman, H.E. George Janjgava, along with Bahrain Civil Aviation Affairs officials, Bahrain International Airport officials and members of Gulf Air’s executive management team. Commenting on the launch of Gulf Air’s newest destination, Gulf Air Chief Executive Officer, Mr Maher Salman Al Musallam, said, “I am delighted Gulf Air is directly connecting Bahrain and Georgia; and witnessing such a high demand as we commence operations is a positive indication of what is to come. I look forward to seeing passengers from across the GCC and MENA regions fly with us.”

In keeping with the recent instructions from the governments of UAE, Saudi and Bahrain, seven carriers from the various Middle East countries have suspended their services to Doha with effect from June 6, 2017 until further notice. Among these airlines are Royal Jets, Etihad, Emirates, flydubai and Air Arabia from UAE; Saudia from Saudi and Gulf Air from Bahrain. While Etihad, Emirates and flydubai suspended all flights between Dubai and Doha, Royal Jets suspended their services between Abu Dhabi and Doha and Air Arabia suspended their flights between Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah and Doha. Saudia has suspended its flights between Saudi and Doha and Gulf Air between Bahrain and Doha. So all customers who have booked tickets on any of these airlines for flying to Doha will have to contact the airlines for alternative options, which will include full refunds on unused tickets or free re-booking to the nearest alternate destinations. For detailed information, the relevant airlines can be called or their websites can be looked up.

Gulf Air, the Kingdom of Bahrain’s national carrier, partnered with VFS Global, the largest visa service provider in the world, to facilitate visa issuance for passengers flying to the Kingdom of Bahrain. The online visa facility will launch this summer on gulfair.com. Signing the agreement with VFS Global, Gulf Air Chief Commercial Officer, Ahmed Janahi, said: “We are partnering with VFS Global to provide a much needed service to Gulf Air passengers that will support our national carrier’s longstanding efforts to promote the Kingdom as a destination to a broad spectrum of travellers while making the process of obtaining a visa to Bahrain easier and more convenient. Soon, Gulf Air passengers will be able to easily obtain short term visit visas to Bahrain via our website gulfair.com – allowing them to come to Bahrain and experience all that our Kingdom has to offer in terms of tourism, business opportunities and more.” Said Zubin Karkaria, Chief Executive Officer, VFS Global Group, “Integrating next-generation convenience into the traditional visa process lies at the heart of our services. We are pleased to synergise our efforts with Gulf Air and the Government of Bahrain to ensure greater flexibility and digital-friendly services for visitors to Bahrain, while maintaining the security requirements of the visa process. We believe the online e-visa platform will make visa application much more convenient for Gulf Air customers, providing them with greater speed and transparency in the process, thereby enhancing their overall experience.” Added Vinay Malhotra, Chief Operating Officer – Middle East & South Asia, VFS Global, “Applying for an eVisa through our dedicated online platform, designed exclusively for Gulf Air passengers, will transform the visa application experience for passengers, offering …

Sabre Corporation has signed a new agreement with the Kingdom of Bahrain’s national carrier, Gulf Air, to provide an expanded portfolio of core passenger services technology covering reservations, departure controls and all other aspects that touch passengers directly. For the past two decades, Gulf Air has been using SabreSonic core reservations and departure control systems to conduct the most critical services ranging from sales of tickets to checking in passengers on flights. “It is clearly evident that Gulf Air is enjoying much greater success and has a clear path for continued growth over the coming years,” said Dino Gelmetti, vice president Airline Solutions EMEA, at Sabre. “Sabre is proud to have played an integral role in its turn-around strategy by providing robust, reliable and flexible technology that forms an essential foundation for streamlining its operations, reducing costs and increasing revenue. We look forward to continuing to support Gulf Air in what continues to be an important and exciting period of change and growth.” Under this new agreement, Sabre will continue providing the latest developments and trends through its technology solutions to Gulf Air, giving the airline access to an expanded portfolio of progressive technologies including passenger re-accommodation, mobile concierge services, ancillary inventory and real time revenue integrity software. “We continue to invest in and focus on enhancing the passenger experience, and are doing so via a multi-faceted approach that includes cutting edge technology solutions to make the entire travel experience more convenient and comfortable for Gulf Air passengers,” said Gulf Air Chief Commercial Officer, Mr. Ahmed Janahi. “We are pleased to utilise an expanded range of solutions provided by Sabre, geared towards increasing passenger satisfaction and giving them greater control …

Gulf Air, the national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain, has announced the addition of the Sri Lankan capital city, Colombo, to its network of destinations with the upcoming launch of five weekly flights to/from Bandaranaike International Airport from 19th January, 2017. This latest addition to Gulf Air’s network is in line with the airline’s business strategy which sees it strengthening its position as one of the Middle East’s largest network carriers, while serving key global destinations that provide strong business and tourism links to the Kingdom of Bahrain and the region. With this addition, Gulf Air’s network will serve 41 cities in 24 countries spanning three continents.

Gulf Air, the national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain, celebrated the airline’s inaugural 5 weekly service to and from Dhaka, Bangladesh, on June 2. Gulf Air flight GF248 was welcomed into Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka, the biggest airport in Bangladesh, with a water cannon salute and, upon arrival, a celebratory event was held in the airport that saw the attendance of various dignitaries, Gulf Air flight’s captain and crew, Gulf Air’s Country Manager to Bangladesh, Hussain Ghuloom, and a number of local media and travel industry representatives, alongside official Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport officials. Serving 7 destinations in Pakistan and 6 in India, Gulf Air’s Dhaka service enhances the airline’s existing Indian Subcontinent operations providing strong connectivity to destinations across Gulf Air’s Middle East network and beyond via the airline’s hub, Bahrain International Airport. Gulf Air 5 weekly flights to Dhaka are operated by an Airbus A320 aircraft with a total of 16 Falcon Gold Business Class seats and 120 Economy Class seats.