Gulf Air reaffirms unaltered flight shedules between Europe and Gulf destinations

Reaffirming Gulf Air's stance, James Hogan, Gulf Air's President and Chief Executive said: "We have no plans to change our flight schedule or routes, and it is business as usual, subject of course to developments in the region, which are monitored around the clock."

"Our strong network in the Gulf region, with its wide range of intra-Gulf connections, allows us to offer passengers from around the Gulf efficient connections into Europe at convenient times on a daily basis," he said.

Gulf Air has more flights to and from the region than other airlines and operates, two direct daily flights out of Bahrain into London and a daily flight out of Abu Dhabi. These flights are scheduled to continue as usual. There are also daily flights from Muscat to London stopping in either Abu Dhabi or Bahrain en route to London, Heathrow.

Gulf Air also flies daily into Paris and Frankfurt, which offer excellent points of connection into the rest of Europe.

"Bookings have been exceptionally good, so much so that we had to lay on an additional flight between Abu Dhabi and London on 4 March," he confirmed.

The success of the schedule is borne out in the exceptional performance figures for January and February, which show a 13.5 per cent increase in passengers carried over the same period last year, and is also ahead of the projections in the airline's three-year strategy by some four per cent.

The airline reiterated its primary commitment to safety of both its staff and passengers, and confirmed that operations would continue as normal following commitments from the Civil Aviation Authorities in Bahrain, Abu Dhabi and Oman that the airports at its key bases would remain open in the event of regional conflict.

"We will continue to offer the highest levels of service and availability to our customers, whether in the normal course of their business or in the unfortunate event of an emergency situation," he confirmed.

Gulf Air will keep its passengers and staff appraised on the latest developments as they occur to ensure continuous operation with minimum disruption to travel arrangements and traffic into the region, it was confirmed.

Full details of Gulf Air's daily flights into Europe can be found on the website at www.gulfairco.com and are also available at all Gulf Air offices and travel agents.