Face-to-Face: Ahmed Janahi
Contributors are not employed, compensated or governed by TD, opinions and statements are from the contributor directly
This week, Travel Daily chats with Ahmed Janahi, Acting Chief Commercial Officer of Gulf Air, about the Bahraini national carrier’s expansion plans…
Q) Which markets are the main priorities for Gulf Air in 2016 and the years ahead, in terms of route development and passenger traffic?
Today, Gulf Air operates one of the largest networks in the Middle East, with double daily flights or more to 10 regional cities, in addition to select destinations in the Indian Subcontinent and Europe, from its hub at Bahrain International Airport. 2016 and beyond will see Gulf Air accelerate its strategic network growth through enhanced schedules and greater frequencies to existing, critical markets alongside tailored expansion into new markets that will add economic value and benefit to Bahrain and its national carrier. Such moves will help us boost sales, cater to passenger demand and generate marketing opportunities across key markets, as well as allowing significant business synergies.
We hope to realise significant growth in passenger demand and sales over the coming years while in tandem increasing Gulf Air capacity, expanding our network and aligning our activity to the airline’s long-term growth strategy.
Q) What are your fastest-growing markets and where do you see the strongest growth potential?
I would say both the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Asian market in general including the Indian Subcontinent. Both Saudi Arabia and India have very strong historical ties with Bahrain, so we have very good two-way traffic.
We’ve been flying to Saudi since 1950 and India since 1960 and, most recently, 2016 has seen us strengthen our operations into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with enhanced frequencies to key cities such as Jeddah and Riyadh. To date, the market has responded well. Operating to 5 destinations in Saudi Arabia and six destinations in India it is clear that we are tapping into the tourism, trade and business potential of both countries while also facilitating religious movement. Passenger demand remains strong and we plan to keep apace of it.
Q) You have announced restructured orders for 45 aircraft with Boeing and Airbus (16 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners, 17 Airbus A321neo and 12 Airbus A320neo aircraft). How will their arrival impact your business, and do you believe they will enable Gulf Air to open up new, tapped markets?
The deliveries of these 16 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners, 17 Airbus A321neo and 12 Airbus A320neo aircraft will commence from Q2 2018 and will serve to simplify Gulf Air’s future wide-body fleet to Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners and ensure its future narrow-body fleet will largely focus on A320 neo Family aircraft.
These orders provide Gulf Air with the requisite expansion capabilities for the airline’s extensively studied future network requirements, ensures it maintains one of the youngest fleets in the region while building upon its award-winning reliability and on time performance.
We have completed our 10-year plan for Bahrain’s national carrier that, of course, incorporates fleet requirement and planned future network growth and schedule enhancement (greater frequencies to select destinations). Between now and 2023 we hope to expand our network to serve 60 destinations.
Yes, as part of our expansion plan we want to expand our footprint in Asia and Europe. As we receive new aircraft, the main focus areas for us will be Europe, the Indian Subcontinent and greater Asia region where we anticipate future growth opportunities. We would like to fly to more points in Asia direct from Bahrain, as the new aircraft will give us greater flying time and more direct flight capability.
Still, we cannot comment at this time on planned network expansion in 2016 – this is something that has been extensively studied, is constantly under review and must be aligned with our strategy of strengthening our network with key global destinations and providing strategic business and tourism links. We continue to monitor routes that are profitable and are in line with our business direction to help in the flow of trade, tourism and investment between Bahrain and other countries. In addition to potential network additions, we anticipate frequency adjustments in 2016 that will further strengthen our network (since 2013 we have increased our flights by approximately 3,000 to date). There will be some exciting developments in that regard and I look forward to making some network announcements soon.
Q) You seem to be making progress with your “Bahrainisation” HR plan; can you elaborate on this?
Gulf Air has been operating since 1950 serving the region’s air travel needs and has been solely the Kingdom of Bahrain’s national carrier since 2007. Today, as we support Bahrain’s national economy, we continue to work towards a common goal of strengthening the airline’s operation and promoting local talent in order to create a nationalized workforce of Bahraini aviation professionals.
Gulf Air provides comprehensive training for Bahrainis and leads the way amongst regional competitors in terms of nationalization – recording 56% Bahrainisation in 2015. As a key employer committed to developing a national workforce of aviation professionals Gulf Air collaborates with local institutions to develop the skills of young Bahraini aviation professionals in the Kingdom, including training and development, further reinforcing its commitment to the local community and its role as a key national economic infrastructure asset.
Q) What is the overall ambition of Gulf Air, in terms of its global stature and brand positioning?
We have a clear view ahead and ambition for the Gulf Air brand. In line with Gulf Air’s enduring values and longstanding vision, Bahrain’s national carrier is renowned for its traditional Arabian hospitality, evidenced by the airline’s signature family and business friendly products. Gulf Air is committed to being an industry leader and developing products and services that reflect the evolving needs and aspirations of its passengers.
What does this mean going forward? It means that we will continue to embrace our ongoing evolution, the dynamism of our airline in all areas (product and service offering, network and fleet plans, operational developments and more) as we strive to penetrate more markets, increase brand awareness, communicate our message and deliver our unique and authentic Arabian hospitality to passengers across the globe.
Comments are closed.