Gulf Air to transfer 767 fleet to form all-economy carrier
Gulf Air is to establish a new subsidiary airline which will operate an all-economy service on routes from Abu Dhabi, with an initial focus on the Indian sub-continent and key cities in the Middle East region.
The new carrier, which will have its own, yet to be disclosed, name and brand identity, will use nine Boeing 767-300ER aircraft presently part of the mainline Gulf Air fleet. The move will leave the mainline carrier with an all-Airbus line-up
These General Electric CF6-powered twin-jets will be reconfigured with an all-economy layout and transferred to Gulf Air's Abu Dhabi hub from where the new carrier will start scheduled operations in June this year.
Gulf Air has not given precise details about the configuration but a Boeing 767-300ER would typically seat 286 in a single-class layout.
Ownership of the new airline will be split between the three Gulf Air managing states ? Oman, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi ? and a managing director for the carrier will be announced at the end of this month.
Different models of airline structures are becoming apparent in many parts of the world, says Gulf Air CEO James Hogan. Having looked at our customer profiles and demographic segmentation we see a tremendous opportunity to develop this operation which we believe will suit the needs of a changing market.
Gulf Air says that it is not venturing into low-fare operations, stressing that the carrier will be full-service. Although the subsidiary will aim mainly at attracting leisure passengers, it will also market the new operation to business travellers.
There will be a minimal overlap of routes, says a spokesman for Gulf Air. We think that the demographics for [these new services] are different from those associated with our flights from, say, London via the Gulf to the Indian subcontinent.?
Gulf Air aims to staff the airline using its present employee base,
offering transfers to crews and personnel currently associated with its 767 operations. It has not disclosed how much it will invest in creating the new carrier.
Establishment of the new airline is a key part of the three-year restructuring plan which has just been approved by the Gulf Air management board, designed to return the airline to profitability.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence new