Gulf Air to cut fleet to 28 and shift to all-Airbus operation
David Kaminski-Morrow, London (10Apr07, 09:43 GMT, 159 words)
Middle Eastern carrier Gulf Air is to begin withdrawing Boeing 767 aircraft from its fleet, cutting the fleet size from 34 to 28 aircraft, in a bid to reduce costs.
It will start removing the twin-jets from service in a shift towards establishing an all-Airbus operation. The changes will be accompanied by a strategy to lessen the time aircraft spend on the ground and a reduction in connection time for passengers.
The move is the latest in a series of cost-cutting measures being imposed by new chief executive Andre Dose who took over the airline at the beginning of April.
“At present Gulf Air is heavily losing money every day,” says Dose. “This has to stop.”
Gulf Air has nine 767-300ERs but earlier this year was forced to ground the jets temporarily for unexpected maintenance checks.
While Gulf Air has previously stated that it plans to replace the 767s, the fleet-reduction programme has not indicated any immediate renewal programme.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news