Bahrain Air eyes own market
In today's Bahrain Tribune:
Bahrain Air, the second national carrier
of Bahrain, is upbeat to create its own
market rather than sharing the existing
market with Gulf Air.
Director of commercial operations MS
Fakhri said that Bahrain Air would not
share market with Gulf Air rather it would
create its own market by offering
affordable fares.
“We are not after anyone else's market
share - we are aimed at those who can't
afford to fly regularly at the moment. We
are two different products, which should
complement each other but our price has to
be cheaper than Gulf Air as we are a low
priced airline.”
Fakhri added that Gulf Air had a bigger
fleet and a bigger route and for this reason
they shouldn’t feel any pressure from
Bahrain Air.
Last month, after the official launch,
Bahrain Air has become the first privatelyowned
premium low-priced carrier (LPC),
with a paid-up capital of BD8 million and
an authorised capital of BD10 million, will
start operations as second national carrier
of the Kingdom of Bahrain from January
17. Bahrain Air will use a fleet of modern
Airbus A320 aircraft and has ambitious
plans to expand its operation within GCC,
Middle East, Africa and the Indian subcontinent.
The new airline is poised to grow in line
with the regional surge in the aviation
business and would achieve business
objectives outlined in the three-year plan.
In the meanwhile, Bahrain Air
announced the completion of selection of
first batch of 44 cabin attendants.
Captain Ahmed Yaqubi Director of
Operations and Maintenance, said: “The
candidates were carefully selected through
an intensive examination which included
the test of their personality, efficiency in
the area of customer service and their
English language.”
The groups included 24 candidates from
different nationalities. This has now raisin
the total of the selected candidates to 44
Cabin Attendant from 12 different
nationalities. The two groups will leave the
Jordan to join an intensive course that takes
10 days covering First Aid, emergency and
safety procedures and fire-fighting. The
training shall be conducted at the Jordanian
Training Academy, which has been
approved by the Civil Aviation Affairs in
the Kingdom of Bahrain. Company
officials were keen to choose the training
centers with a reputable performance and
efficiency in order to maintain its high
standard of service especially in the area of
air safety.
He added: “Bahrain Air’s aim is to
strengthen the Bahraini labour market
through recruiting Bahrainis to work within
the in-flight services and encourages
Bahraini females to apply for Cabin
Attendant positions through its website.
This is in addition to other areas of
specialisation.”
According to senior official Bahrain Air
will set a new standard in its category while
tapping the huge base of passengers flying
on GCC and African destinations. Initially,
the airline will cover 13 destinations and
140 flights weekly across the region.
Backed by leading investors from
Bahrain and Saudi Arabia with 68 per cent
and 32 per cent shareholding respectively,
Bahrain Air is upbeat about grabbing a fair
market share by offering an innovative
product.
The induction of first batch was
announced at a reception attended by
Chairman Shaikh Mohammed bin Abdulla
Al Khalifa and airline’s managing director
Ibrahim Al Hamer.