In today's GDN:
Mr Dose left because he could not get used to the Bahraini way of doing business, Mr Al Kooheji told the Press.
He said Mr Dose had wanted to work faster than Bahraini legislative constraints allow.
"In terms of our previous president, I think the issue was the environment in which we work in Bahrain," said Mr Al Kooheji.
"In Bahrain we are very open about the fact that it is a modest operation. Maybe in business you need to take a lot of decisions very quickly and very promptly, but if you are a public company you have to adhere to a lot of rules and obligations, whether they are good or bad.
"We believe they are good, we believe they add transparency. It is a personal sort of style of working.
"Some people are comfortable working in a certain environment and some people are not able to work in that environment.
"We have to work with parliament, we have other legislative people that we need to answer to and we need to accommodate."
This difference in management style was the reason for Mr Dose's exit, rather than any major disagreement on how the airline's 'Making Gulf Air Well' recovery plan should be implemented, said Mr Al Kooheji.
"That is the reason - there was no difference of opinion regarding the programme," he said.
"Even if you talk to the previous president and chief executive, he will tell you that he believes in this programme - it is a good programme, nobody ever disputed that, we are all committed to that.
"So it's just the style of working. It is the environment that we are in."
Mr Al Kooheji later dismissed the idea that there were underlying problems in the relationship between the board and Mr Dose which caused the rift.
"I don't think the problem was between the board and Mr Dose. The new Gulf Air is a 100 per cent Bahrain-owned company and we will soon be subject to a tender law and the audit bureau of Bahrain," he said.
"Those sort of laws that are in Bahrain require us to adhere to a certain process and be very transparent in our business.
"The previous PCE's opinion was we are restructuring and we need to do things in a fast-track way and bypass these.
"Our opinion is no - we need to do it by the book, even if it is a little bit slower.
"I think transparency is always good. We want to be in compliance with the law to the fullest that we can be."
There was no personal animosity, said Mr Al Kooheji.
"Personally there was no dispute with him - things ended on a very friendly note. Even before his departure he gave very good words of encouragement to the management team, asking them to continue the programme," he said.
"I personally have very high regard for him - he is a very professional person and we left on friendly terms.
"He said if we want to contact him or get his opinion on things he is happy and willing to help us - so he is departing, but his heart is still with us."
Mr NŠf takes over temporarily after impressing the Gulf Air board of directors with his efforts as he led the introduction of a new, "passenger-friendly" schedule, launched on July 1.
The new schedule has dramatically cut the number of flight cancellations and improved punctuality, according to Mr Al Kooheji.
"Our new network has been in operation from July 1 - just over three weeks - and the results we are having are encouraging and remarkable," he said.
"In the whole month we have only had five cancellations, whereas in the same period last year we had 100 (flight) cancellations.
"Last month, before the new schedule, we had 23 cancellations in one weekend - so compare 23 cancellations over two days to only five cancellations in three weeks.
"This shows the programme was done properly and is stable and is achieving what we expected.
"Punctuality is also improving a lot - our target was to achieve 80 per cent punctuality, we have now reached 85pc - it has gradually reached that level and it shows the wave scheme which we put in is working."
Mr Al Kooheji also revealed that with around six weeks left until the deadline for Gulf Air staff to volunteer for redundancy packages, 363 people had applied - making the airline confident of reaching its target of 400 people.
"We expect the first leased A321 aircraft to come into operation in the middle of October. It is not a brand new aircraft, but it will be an aircraft of the standard and quality we will be happy with at Gulf Air," he added.
Mr Dose's departure will have no bearing on the carrier's determination to implement the BD310 million Making Gulf Air Well programme, which he played a large part in conceiving, said Mr Al Kooheji.
"The programme we have is a very well thought out programme. It is continuing, we are going ahead with it. People change, people leave and people join, and the programme is going ahead," he said.
"It is a common sense programme - it was what the business needs and it is what the business can support.
"We are very proud to continue with the team we have and in the past two or three months we were able to bring in really, really capable and very experienced people and officials and senior executives into the company to implement this programme - and we are getting the fruits of the work of these professionals.
"I feel everybody is committed to the airline, the recent numbers are very encouraging for us.
"I don't want to name them but I know other airlines in other areas who have tried to implement major restructuring and after a few weeks they have abandoned it, but for us here it has worked.
"The credit doesn't go to Gulf Air only - the credit goes to everybody. It goes to Bahrain Airport Services and the Bahrain Airport authorities - they have been very co-operative and have helped us achieve this."
Board member Jawad Habib said Gulf Air was not at risk of being swallowed by bigger players - whether by existing low-cost airlines or possible new entrants to the industry.
"We have a very sophisticated network and we have slots in over 60 countries and I don't think the network that Gulf Air has achieved over the last 60 years can be easily achieved by a new airline," he said.
"It is in the interest of Gulf Air to manage the new situation, let these newcomers bring passengers to the hub of the national carrier and take these passengers from here on a sophisticated network."
Mr Habib later spelled out the continuing importance of Gulf Air to Bahrain.
"I don't believe we have an alternative but to support Gulf Air, to be absolutely frank with you," he told the GDN.
"It is a political decision and it has been decided we will support Gulf Air.
"We once did an analysis and asked 'Why have the hub in Bahrain? Why not have the hub in Muscat, which is in a country with a bigger population ?'
"The result was that Bahrain is a better option. Why? Because we have the business community. When you have more than 400 financial institutions and they commute on a daily basis to see their clients, you have a strong base.
"So they need a reliable airline that fits with their schedule. We have our niche and I don't think anyone can pick it up.
"We have that niche and there are others we can open in the future - for example at a proximity of 25km you have five million people sitting on the other side of the causeway who would prefer to travel long haul on Gulf Air than a Saudi carrier."
Gulf Air has not yet approached anyone to fill the role of president and chief executive on a permanent basis and will not be giving preference to Bahraini candidates, said Mr Al Kooheji.
"We have Mr NŠf as acting PCE. We have not approached anyone, we have said we will look at Bahraini and non-Bahraini - we will do selection based on experience and capabilities," he said.
"Mr NŠf is a natural candidate for that process - I think he is doing an excellent job in operations, he really was able to turn around the operations.
"I am not talking commercially, but operationally the company is turning around. That is a big achievement for him in that area.
"We will do it very professionally, very openly, we have not talked to anybody, we have not approached anybody - we are doing a proper process. Anybody who thinks he is capable can apply and he will go through the system.
"We are looking for someone to get the job done, that's what we want. We have already started the process. Let's hope we will be lucky as soon as possible," he said.
Mr Al Kooheji denied that Mr Dose's abrupt departure and the fact that his eventual successor will have to adhere to his predecessor's strategy, would make strong candidates wary of accepting the position.
"I don't think so - I think the programme is achieving," he said.
"When people come in they have two worries, usually. Whether they have political backing to do exactly what they want to do or whether they have the funding support to do their programme. We have that."
He also said the airline would continue to have strong financial support from the government's Mumtalakat Holding Company.
"Although we are supporting the company with money, our eye is really on turning around this company commercially and running it on a commercial basis and hopefully to privatise in and have an initial public offering (IPO) in a few years time. We think we have the market, and we have the network," Mr Al Kooheji told the GDN.
"For us we have really selected a model that will really make this company stand on its own.
"We are not competing with the big airlines and their big network everywhere else - we want to serve the economy and we would like those in the Bahrain economy to use Gulf Air."
Mr Al Kooheji said the airline was reviewing its use of consultants Roland Berger - whose Middle East head Michael Wette also sits on the Gulf Air board.
A new arrangement will be implemented to avoid accusations of conflict of interest, he said.
"The Roland Berger consultant issue was debated and we had a decision from the board that we will not have a conflict continuing," said Mr Kooheji.
'In future, if we have a member on the board then we will not invite Roland Berger for any new assignments, but whatever work we have ongoing has to be completed."
Mr Al Kooheji refused to comment on the arrest and questioning of in-flight services head Michael Kent.
He was arrested on July 12 and released 24 hours later, without charge but under a travel ban. It is understood the investigation relates to contracts for in-flight services supplies.
UK-based forensic auditors Kroll are reportedly going through the airline's books, investigating alleged irregularities, spanning several years.
Mr Al Kooheji would not comment on the inquiry.