Managers?
Gulf Air only has a high number of managers in title - they are not really managers. This sprouted from the lack of increments and pay rises over the last 12-15 years where I believe only 3 years saw a bonus and perhaps two a CPI applied at 3%. In order to negate the (real) loss of income due to this, departments spent a lot of time rewriting job descriptions to allow a grade and/or title change. There are staff in Gulf Air doing exactly the same job they were 10 years ago on, Grade-8 who are now Grade-11 just to recover the financial losses from no CPI. What the company then does is outrageous as these staff are now entitled to greater leave, greater allowances, greater non-financial benefits that erode the companies postion more so than if increments had reasonable pay rises had been applied over the period.
What Gulf Air really needs to do is already known and has been for a great number of years; yet it is not practiced or perhaps practicable for them to execute. That is to weed out dead wood and run more efficiently. The ratio of staff:aircraft is way too high to be profitable or for business processes to run effectively. Corporate and Political will is required to clean up and quite simply, as eveyone knows, that will never occur. Very sad for an airline that was once the envy of many, most of whom are now flying a lot higher.
It may just be that the best that can come out of it is that Gulf Air simply ends up as some University case study on how not to run an airline.