Gulf Air records positive business performance in the first half of 2012

Announcing the highlights of the Jan-June 2012 business performance of the company, Gulf Air CEO Mr. Samer Majali said that the airline has recorded 6% increase in revenue and 13% increase in passenger numbers compared to the same period last year. Seat load factor has reached 77% for the same period registering a 5% growth.

The airline's Falcon Gold premium class alone has seen a healthy 35% growth while economy class has seen 12% growth over the same period last year indicating the passengers increasing preference to fly with Gulf Air due to several new features and facilities introduced recently. Gulf Air currently operates one of the youngest fleets in the region with an average fleet age of just 4.7 years. The airline's on-time punctuality has grown to 79% as against 78% in 2011 and 74% in 2010 while its technical dispatch reliability has reached 99.4%.

Correspondingly, customer complaints have reduced by 11%. The introduction of the Staff Appreciation Scheme last year has received much appreciation from customers with over 2000 frequent flyers complimenting the airline's customer service.

Mr. Majali said, "We were able to achieve these results with the combined efforts of rationalized route network, fleet optimisation, improved sales efficiency, products and services, cost efficiency measures and expenditure reduction. This is by no means a small achievement considering factors such as the temporary suspension of eight profitable routes and high fuel prices that have had a negative impact on our traffic and revenue."

He continued, "We are pushing forward with our cost-efficiency and sales efficiency measures in 2012 and are targeting a further 15% reduction in its cost base for the full year; we have already achieved a cost base savings of BD6.8m between Jan and May this year."

"We are glad that the business is looking up and we will continue to work harder to improve across our business functions to provide the best value for money to our customers. Above all, we will continue to be the flag carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain and support the country's economic ambitions by being a commercially sustainable and dynamic airline that effectively serves the people and the economy of Bahrain, and represents the Kingdom on the world stage" Mr. Majali concluded.