This week: Air France-KLM drops Virgin Atlantic deal plans; Ryanair to close two bases; Transavia to start Brussels service; codeshare agreed between Gulf Air and Middle East Airlines and more.
This week: Emirates firms Dreamliner and A350 orders; Gulf Air and SpiceJet sign cooperation agreement; Norwegian hires a new CEO; Air Astana puts faith in Max jets and more.
This week: Gulf Air is resuming service to Milan; Southwest readies for further Hawaii expansion; and Bamboo Airways to grow its international network.
This week: Air France to close Joon brand; Delta orders 15 more A220s, supersonic aircraft developer closes $100m funding round, Germania explores financing options and more.
Our top five stories on Routes Weekly: Gulf Air's European and North American ambitions; Air Canada and Air China joint venture; London Heathrow expansion moves closer; LATAM Airlines plans Munich service; Route rundown and more.
After a long period with a declining presence in the region, Gulf Air is spoiling for a comeback. Chief executive Krešimir Kučko explains more about the European and North American ambitions of Bahrain’s state-owned carrier.
After restructuring its operations Gulf Air has been able to better control its future growth after successfully eradicating legacy debts reducing annual losses from BHD62.7 million in 2014 to BHD24.1 million in 2015. Ahead of this, its annual debts were as high as BHD196 million in 2012.
Analysis of MIDT data shows that over 1.5 million O&D passengers a year fly in and out of Iran from/to Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The market between the UAE and Iran is the largest at an estimated 1.35 million annual passengers, with around 100,000 annual passengers in the other markets.
Al Qahtani Group (linked to Gulf Air) and Qatar Airways were both selected in late 2012 to bring new competition into the Saudi Arabian domestic market as part of a series of reforms. Both have been working with the local regulator to establish their respective businesses, Saudi Gulf Airlines and Al Maha Airways, but despite an initial suggestion these carriers would take-off by the end of 2013, we are still awaiting their arrival into the local skies.
Bristol Airport and airBaltic have topped the charts in a recent report by OAG which has revealed its punctuality league for 2014, highlighting on-time performance results for airlines and airports.
The national carrier of Bahrain has announced two new destinations to its network in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, taking the number of Saudi Arabian cities served by the airline to six.
Gulf Air, the national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain, has announced its plans to increase its direct services to Trivandrum International Airport, Thiruvananthapuram with a daily operation launching from December 5, 2014.
Bahrain, which is located in the Arabian Gulf, has a history of aviation that dates back to the early 1920's. Historically it has acted as a gateway between the East and West providing a natural transit destination for early trade routes and a strategic hub for the Northern Gulf.
The resumed Gulf Air service between Athens and Bahrain will offer passengers improved connections between Greece and Bahrain. When the route was previously flown by the carrier up to 11,000 annual bi-directional O&D passengers flew between the two countries.
