Gulf Air

These are hardly auspicious times for airlines with several major US and European carriers close to bankruptcy, and the civil aviation sector in general bleeding cash and shedding staff by the thousands.

Australian career aviation man James Hogan took charge of Gulf Air last year and has since secured support of the three government shareholders - Abu Dhabi, Oman and Bahrain - for his three-year turn around strategy.

In the past Gulf Air has been dogged by all the normal problems seen in state dominated organizations and has not been run on truly commercial lines. Mr. Hogan has instituted a root and branch analysis of the airline's business and promises a rolling reform programme.

To insiders this is a breath of fresh air after years of less than satisfactory management. Moreover, Mr. Hogan has managed to keep most of his staff on board, aside from 275 initial redundancies, and this in itself is quite a feat in the aircraft industry today. 'I am working with who I've got,' he says.

The new Gulf Air premium service is also creating quite a stir. In this segment passenger numbers were up by 18% in the first quarter. Innovations such as the 'chef in the sky' and 'meals on demand' have gone down well, so too has the Jaguar limousine service to your door.

There has also been a striking new livery for the Gulf Air fleet with the emphasis on Arabian heritage and the falcon logo. And as the year progresses the airline will restart services to Australia and Greece.

Mr. Hogan is an industry professional and started his career as an administrator at Melbourne airport, moving through the ranks at Qantas, Hertz and British Midland, and the unsuccessful rescue of Ansett, before landing in the top job at Gulf Air.

He is pretty sanguine about the outlook for Gulf Air, and notes that the Middle East itself is in something of a boom phase with high oil prices and the Iraq reconstruction in prospect. Indeed, Gulf Air was the first airline to announce its intentions to resume flights to Baghdad, ahead of Emirates.

By 2010 Mr. Hogan wants to have a fleet of 60 aircraft, double his present number. That might seem a tall order for a company that has lost hundreds of millions of dollars in the past few years, but with the right management, tough marketing and a good economic environment, Gulf Air may just make it.