Gulf Air

**Gulf Air** is the national Carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain. It is a subsidiary of Gulf Air Group Holding company, which also owns Bahrain Airport Company and Gulf Aviation Academy.

It started in 1950. It operates the largest network in the Middle East.   The airline's current announced network stretches from Europe to Asia, connecting 58 places, with a fleet of 34 aircraft.

## History

**1949 - 1973: Gulf Aviation as operating company**

In the late 1940s, Freddie Bosworth, a British pilot and entrepreneur, began an air taxi service to Doha and Dhahran from Bahrain. Bosworth later expanded the service and, on 24 March 1950, registered **Gulf Aviation Company Limited** as a private shareholding company. This makes **Gulf Air**, one of the oldest carriers in the Middle East. The early fleet contained seven _Avro Ansons_ and three _de Havilland DH 86B four-engine biplanes_.

In October 1951, British Overseas Airways Corporation  became a major shareholder in _Gulf Aviation_, holding a 22% stake through their subsidiary company BOAC Associated Companies.

**1970s: Multinational Ownership**

In 1973 the governments of the Emirate (now Kingdom) of Bahrain, the State of Qatar, the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the Sultanate of Oman agreed to purchase the BOAC Associated Companies holding in Gulf Aviation. _The Foundation Treaty_ was signed on 1 January 1974 and gave each government a 25% shareholding in Gulf Aviation, which became a holding company. **Gulf Air** became the flag carrier for the four states.

With leased _Lockheed L-1011 Tristar_ and _Boeing 737 Aircraft_ joining the fleet, by 1976 **Gulf Air** had expanded its route network to include _Amman_, _Amsterdam_, _Athens_, _Baghdad_, _Bombay_, _Bangkok_, _Beirut_, _Cairo_, _Colombo_, _Delhi_, _Dhaka_, _Hong Kong_, _Jeddah_, _Karachi_, _Khartoum_, _Larnaca_, _Manila_, _Paris_, _Ras Al-Khaimah_ and _Sana'a_. The fleet comprised four _Vickers VC10_, three _BAC One-Elevens_, two _Lockheed L-1011 Tristar 200s_, and five _Boeing 737-200s_. In 1978, the airline doubled the Tristar fleet to replace the VC10s. Meanwhile, the airline increased the Boeing 737 fleet to nine and phased out the One-Elevens.

**1980s - 1992: Expansion**

The 1980s saw an increase in air travel and growth for **Gulf Air**. in 1981, **Gulf Air** became an IATA member, and in the following year became the first international airline to land in Riyadh.

In 1985, Emirates, the startup national carrier of Dubai, began operating.

In 1988, _Boeing 767<nowiki/>s_ joined the fleet and the airline launched services to Frankfurt, Istanbul, Damascus, Dar Es Salam, Fujairah, and Nairobi, and resumed their services to Shiraz and Baghdad.

The original **Gulf Air** livery consisted of a white fuselage with three stripes: Maroon, brown, green and red with a golden falcon on the three-striped tail fin. This livery was used in the following **Gulf Air** airlines: _Lockheed L1011-200 Tristar_ (1976), _Boeing 737-200_ (1977), _Boeing 767-300ER_ (1988), _Airbus A320-200_ (1992), _Airbus A340-300_ (1994), and _Airbus A330-200_ (1999).

**Gulf Air** celebrated its 40th anniversary in 1990. The light-blue and peach Balenciaga-designed uniform was introduced. Services to Singapore, Sydney and Thiruvananthapuram were launched, **Gulf Air** was the first Arab airline to fly to Australia.  It added services to Johannesburg and Melbourne in 1992, becoming the first Arab airline to fly to directly to these cities. in 1993, it opened a flight-simulator center in Qatar and introduced services to Casablanca, Entebbe, Jakarta, Kilimanjaro, Madras, Rome,  Zanzibar and Zurich.

**1993 - 2005: New livery and destinations**

In May 1994, **Gulf Air** received its first _Airbus A340-300_. Two months later, the carrier began flights to New York City using an A340. It also served Houston from 1995 to 1996. The **Gulf Air** website opened in January 1997, and New York left the network the following month. A no-smoking policy was established in 1998 on flights to Singapore and Australia, which was later extended through its whole network. In 1999,  it launched three new routes in Northern Pakistan: Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar. It also took delivery of two out of six _Airbus A330-200_ Aircraft and introduced a new Balmain Uniform.

In 2000, the airline celebrated its 50th anniversary. It took delivery of the remaining _Airbus A330-200_ Aircraft in June and launched services to Milan.

In May 2002, _James Hogan_ became president and CEO  and instigated a restructuring and turnaround program in response to a drastic fall in profits and increasing debt.

On 1 August 2002, Qatar announced its intentions to withdraw from **Gulf Air** to focus on its own national airline Qatar Airways. The state remained a member state for a six-month period after announcing the intention to withdraw.

In 2003, **Gulf Air** introduced a new _Landor Associates_-designed gold and blue livery and, in June, established _Gulf Traveler_, a subsidiary, all-economy, full-service airline. It also announced a sponsorship deal for the Bahrain Grand Prix through 2010, creating the **Gulf Air** Bahrain Grand Prix, of which the first was staged in 2004. The airline also introduced daily flights to Athens and Sydney via Singapore on 23 November 2003.

In 2004, **Gulf Air** introduced direct flights between Dubai and London, Muscat and London, and a daily service between Abu Dhabi and Ras Al Khaimah. The airline carried a record of 7.5 million passengers during that year. **Gulf Air's** sponsorship of the _Bahrain Formula 1 Grand Prix_ continued, with a record race crowd and a global TV audience.

**Gulf Air** was also placed on IATA's Operational Safety Audit registry.

**2006-2009: Full ownership by Bahrain**

The new summer schedule commencing 28 April 2006 saw the complete withdrawal from Abu Dhabi as a hub, following the decision on 13 September 2005 by the Emirate of Abu Dhabi to withdraw from **Gulf Air** and establish UAE flag carrier Etihad Airways. **Gulf Air** changed its operations to a dual-hub basis between Bahrain and Muscat airports. The airline ran a series of advertisements in local newspapers, thanking Abu Dhabi for its contribution to **Gulf Air**. As the National Carrier for the United Arab Emirates for over 35 years, it had a large customer base located in Abu Dhabi. **Gulf Air** endeavored to show continuing support for flights to Abu Dhabi from Bahrain and Muscat, connecting to the rest of the **Gulf Air** network, via advertisements placed in local newspapers.

On 5 May 2007, the government of Bahrain claimed full ownership of the airline. On the 6th of November 2008, **Gulf Air** started its third daily non-stop flight to London Heathrow Airport from Bahrain. On 3 July 2008, **Gulf Air** was announced as the official sponsor of London Association Football Club, Queen Park Rangers. The same year, **Gulf Air** signed a lease agreement for five aircraft with international Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) as part of its growth and expansion strategy.

** 2010s: Restructuring**

On 1 March 2010, **Gulf Air** launched its new 'Falcon Gold' cabin, a single premium cabin merging business and first class together, aimed at offering higher standards of comfort for the standard premium price. As of August 2011, the new Flat Beds were installed on all aircrafts except short-haul aircrafts.

In November 2012, **Gulf Air** phased out its last _Airbus A340-300_.

At the _Bahrain International Air show_ in January 2016, **Gulf Air** ordered 17 _A321neo_ and 12 _A320neo_ aircraft for delivery from June 2018. It also announced a restructured order for 16 _Boeing 787-9_ aircraft. The new order of 16 _Boeing 787-9_ aircraft replaced an existing order for 16 of the smaller _Boeing 787-8_ aircraft.

In February 2018, **Gulf Air** revealed its new livery. It consisted of an all-white fuselage with a smaller golden falcon on the tail and with dark blue **Gulf Air** titles.

## Awards & Accolades

_June 2023_:- **Gulf Air** wins AFJ Global Award.

_January 2022_:- **Gulf Air** has received the Coveted Skytrax Five Star COVID-19 Airline Safety Rating after an audit by Skytrax Research.

_May 2022_:- **Gulf Air** at Changi Airline Awards ceremony won the "Connectivity Award".

_September 2022_- **Gulf Air** was  the winner of the World's Most Improved Airline at the Skytrax World Airline Awards 2022.

_May 2017_:- **Gulf Air** was honored for its support in developing signlent, the first instant messaging mobile application in the region exclusively designed to serve the hard of hearing, at an "Injaz Bahrain Ceremony".

_November 2016_:- **Gulf Air** received the "Technology Innovation of the year" at the _Aviation Business Awards_.
- "Hospitality and Tourism Deployment of the year" at the seventh annual Compute News Middle East (CNME) ICT Achievement Award.
- "Best Airline in Technology-Middle East" at the Global Enterprise Connect (GEC) Awards.

_ November 2011_- **Gulf Air** wins Best Airline Award for Corporate Social Responsibility.

## Products

**Gulf Air** was the first Middle East Airline to launch a fully-fledged passenger loyalty program in December 1994.

"Falcon Lounge" at the Bahrain International Airport is three times bigger than the facility in the older terminal and includes an outdoor terrace. There is room for 400 passengers at any time.

## Infobox (airline)

- **airline**: Gulf Air
- **iata**: GF
- **icao**: GFA
- **callsign**: GULF AIR
- **founded**: 1950 (as Gulf Aviation)
- **hubs**: Bahrain International Airport
- **frequent flyer**: Falconflyer
- **fleet size**: 36
- **destinations**: 49
- **parent**: Gulf Air Holding B.S.C
- **headquarters**: Muharraq, Bahrain
- **key people**: <div>
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*</div>
- **website**: [http://www.gulfair.com/ GulfAir.com]