AXED
Gulf Air flight crew will be offered positions with rival Abu Dhabi-based airline Etihad, the GDN has learned.
A well-placed source at the UAE carrier yesterday said the airline was prepared to take on all captains, first officers and cabin crew who lose their jobs as part of Gulf Air's streamlining efforts - brought on by financial losses running at $1 million (BD378,000) per day.
The source said Etihad's management had given the green light for the recruitment of all crew deemed surplus to Gulf Air requirements.
"Management have said: 'Just take them'," said the source.
"They are qualified, they are good and we do not have to spend money training them."
They added that qualified staff were at a premium in the aviation industry, with many airlines forced to scour increasingly remote parts of the globe for cabin crew.
The sudden availability of staff familiar with the region and capable of doing the job was described as a rare and welcome opportunity for competing firms.
However, the source revealed Etihad would not take any more than those axed by their competitor in a bid to keep relations between the two firms cordial.
"The instructions are not to take more than Gulf Air gets rid of - they do not want to hurt Gulf Air," they said.
Any offer of employment by Etihad would likely come as a relief to those who will leave Gulf Air under the airline's plan to cut its 6,000 workforce by 25 per cent.
Announcing a strategic plan titled Making Gulf Air Well earlier this month, new chief executive Andre Dose said the streamlining of staff and loss-making long-haul routes was the unfortunate cost of restructuring the airline.
The airline's deputy chairman Mahmood Al Kooheji said those most likely to lose their jobs were expatriate cabin crew.
If former Gulf Air employees do make the decision to join Etihad, it will mean a reunion with former Gulf Air chief executive James Hogan, who now occupies the same position for the UAE airline.