Review
Gulf Air's demise has been through a long period of time and it is sad to see the state of affairs that we have at the moment, both in staff morale and company deterioration.
The general consensus from all is that the situation had to be rectified in order to make a sustainable airline and the measure has been put in place with the appointment of a new CEO to do the required job.
Some may state that the plans that have been put into place through the appointment of the new CEO are not justified because of the fact that bahrain needs to be in the A-list of contenders for the region. Some may state that the measures have been put in place and gives the carrier the best chance to succeed in the future. Some may state that a combination of all measures should be put into place to deal with the crisis that not only gulf air is putting in place but other carriers around the region and the world to combat the sad state of affairs that was not just bought into face from the collapse of the world economy but had been there for a while and nobody intervened.
As harsh as it is to say but may be the world economy collapse was a good thing for the world so that companies could shake up their act and for them to realise the harsh situations that the companies are really in.
All of my comments are not going to suit everyone but the comments which I am going to make sit me on the border in relation to expansion and contraction.
I believe that as most have said Gulf Air cannot be the glory that it once was before, but that does not stop it from becoming an airline where people take pride in who they work for. The reduction of staff that is going to happen from JAL collapse, is a true reminder of what can happen to any airline throughout the world and has happened many time last year and I am sure more to go in the future. What makes JAL special is the fact that they are a private entity originally set up as a public entity and the staff that are involved in the airline take pride in working for them. May be this is the true spirit and culture of the japenese nation.
The airline does need to contract yes, but it also needs to expand in other areas. I am not just talking about going down the regional jet route I am talking widebody expansion and narrow body expansion as well as regional jet expansion.
The regional jet has many pro's and many con's. Many of the con's are through either the staff (pilots) fear of flying the aircraft because it is smaller than the 320, or the reputation that bahrain has the smallest aircraft in the region. None of these are valid points surely a reduction of passenger capactity on a given route should justify flying a smaller aircraft for cost saving measures. Well I think so! Yes it is a smaller aircraft and given some some new regional routes ie. into unknown parts of saudi and amongst other destination I am sure that it will do well and save money where the flying of a bigger aircraft would be more of a hindrance in cost.
The 320's are to be increased in fleet size well this makes sense as well given that some routes have bigger passenger number then the regional jet could hold plus there is cargo hold for extra baggage as well.
Wide bosy aircraft should not be contracted apart from the 340's we should keep at least 10- 15 330's as we have routes that are good routes on this that has the demand for this type of airraft.
So you can see from my points that I am sitting on the edge for both sides.
But what really needs to take place is massive restructuring of the company and taking advatage of the routes that either we operate or other companies operate to destination wise on increased capacity and maximising it to the full potential. Gulf air cannot hope to increase its passenger capacity by promotional offers etc its service compared to other carrier does not justify the cost, but it can take other passengers from other carriers by introducing the same service and flying with maximum capacity for that route thereby not operating as a loss on that sector.
Plans I would out in place:
1) Learn the structure of the organization.
2) Set up task force to audit and interview every employee within every department at home and outstation bases to learn their specific role with what their tasks to the organization are.
3) Review the results and increase productivity person to person by adding responsibility to each job role through reductions in staff levels however with the possibility of adding other job roles within the department.
4) Introduce stricter guidelines to working hours in line with other western countries including clock in clock out cards for every employee per department for check in and out and lunch and tea breaks with time to be allocated, introduce no mobile phone usage at work unless in an emergency or used in the allocated breaks, introduce increased salary based on performance with two appraisals a year per employee, introduce reduced sick pay days with incentives for employees who do not use any sick days in the year to gain benefits.
5) Set up task force to retrieve and report on a weekly basis via presentation of the passenger loads with gulf air per destination per day with same comparison to be taken from all the other airlines operating in and out of Bahrain, with task force set up at other bases to access information from all the other carriers that gulf air is competing with on the routes covered and not covered by gulf air to see the opportunity of other destinations.
6) All stations at home or outstation bases to have maximum turnaround time of 45 minutes per narrow body and 1 hour per wide body.
7) Review the productivity of BAS and other ground handling agents at home and outstation bases and procedures used to execute delivery of service including passenger, freight and baggage deliverance to the set flight. Introduce stricter guidelines in regard to closing of check in desks and closure of boarding gates. If review not satisfactory then implement other measures at home base or outstation bases to either set up gulf air brand handling service at home base or change handling agent.
8) Disable the positions of sky chef and sky nanny, keep the positions of FA, FJ, CS and CSM. Reduce to the minimum crew required on narrow body fleet (1 per 50), allow extra crew for wide body.
9) Review meals service guidelines with review of meals provided for all flights by necessitating measures to cut work loads of staff of on narrow body sectors however keeping full service carrier. Review drinks carriage to revert to small cans or small unit bottles to cut down staff workloads.
10) Maximize all pilots on to ensure that all pilots are doing minimum of 70 hours per month.
There are many more that need to be put in place but this is just a handful.
Please someone in management do something, at least communicate what is happening not just another letter to the pilots the problem really does not stem from there it stems from deeper inside.
Thanks all