Citazione:Messaggio inserito da skyrobbie
Gulf Air sta già pensando di attivare nuovi collegamenti dal Bahrain, nonostante il rigido piano di ristrutturazione che sta attuando per risanare la situazione dei conti.
Emirates invece aumenterà in maniera considerevole le frequenze giornaliere sulla rotta Dubai-Bahrain.
Gulf Air eyes routes to China and Switzerland
By Ivan Gale, Staff Reporter
Embattled Gulf Air is targeting new routes to China and Switzerland by year-end as the airline charts its return to profitability.
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The Bahrain-based carrier is in the planning stages of flying to Shanghai and Zurich, said Hashim Mahmood, executive vice-president of its network division, during an aviation conference in Vancouver yesterday.
Gulf Air is losing $1 million per day, the company announced in April. Under Andre Dose, its new CEO, the airline is in the midst of a restructuring drive to stem losses. Dose joined in April, after serving as president and CEO at Swiss International Airlines. Shortly after, the government of Oman, previously a co-owner in the carrier, pulled out of the partnership.
Shanghai represents the largest market in China, according to Mahmood. Zurich, meanwhile, is one of the busiest airports in Central Europe, and also happens to be familiar terrain for Gulf Air's new CEO.
Under its recovery plan, Dose called for dropping six destinations and opting for an all Airbus fleet.
"We will stop operating our heavily loss-making long-haul services to Dublin, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Sydney and Singapore," he said at the time. "Instead, we will allocate more assets to better serve all important centres in the Gulf and the Middle Eastern region."
The airline plans to reduce its fleet from 34 to 28 aircraft, eliminating its nine Boeing 767s, and replacing nine A340s with four A321s, two A330s and six A330s.
Late last year, Gulf Air also signed with Malaysia Airlines to become network partners and feed traffic to each other.
da Gulnews del 6/6/2007