Labour Fund beefs up Gulf Air's World Wide Contact Centre local workforce

In a brief ceremony held at its Muharraq headquarters, Gulf Air's Chief People Officer Ahmed Al Banna, Acting Chief Commercial Officer Danny Barranger handed over the training completion certificates to the candidates.

Officials from Bahrain Labour Fund, which has sponsored the training of 67 Bahrainis, including the 44 graduates, joined the ceremony.

The new additions boosted the airline's call centre strength to more than a hundred staff.

"Gulf Air's call centre has been growing from strength to strength and we are proud to see another very capable team of young Bahrainis joining the national carrier, which is a key factor in contributing to the economy of the nation," said Mr. Al Banna.

"We are thankful to the Labour Fund for their backing of our development programme to employ more Bahrainis and it goes well with our strategy to strengthen our local partnerships to go out to the world with one voice and promote Bahrain and Gulf Air globally," he said.

Labour Fund Vice President for Human Capital and Enterprise Development Dr. Ahmed Al Shaikh, who was present at the event, praised Gulf Air's initiative to employ more and more Bahrainis, "We were so delighted and proud to attend the graduation ceremony of the Gulf Air World-wide Call Center. This employment and training project initiated by Gulf Air and funded, for its training cost component, by the Labour Fund came as an excellent example to the employment opportunities within the private sector for the Bahrainis. It is worth to note that WWCC have been doing tremendous screening and selection efforts to identify the right Bahraini talents who then created the right base for Gulf Air to train and invest in. The Labour Fund is so proud to have been able to channel its funding and investment in employment and training to ultimately make the Bahrainis the employee of choice within the private sector."

Mr. Barranger agreed adding that the new addition is a testament that the growth plans for the Bahrain-based call centre are on track.

"Our call centre is mostly the first point of contact for our customers and we are confident and proud of our team to be able to provide Gulf Air's passengers better service and make their travel experience with Bahrain's national carrier a journey to cherish."

The candidates were given an intensive training programme on SABRE reservation system and procedures, telephone and booking techniques, efficient handling of customers and other travel-related enquiries.

"Gulf Air is expanding its network with new destinations such as Shanghai and Hyderabad being added to the list and our call centre has played a key part in ensuring in driving our company's revenue generation through proactive customer interaction and helping customers to make appropriate travel plans," concluded Mr. Barranger.