"Perhaps the other options weren't worthy of such cataclysmic headlines?"
- The following article appeared on the GDN's page 1 on January 25. It seems they have gone for the downsizing option because parliament and the Shura Council refused to agree to a BD600m+ government bailout. They agreed to a BD185m handout based on a government-proposed downsizing.
This has been in discussion since January and it has taken them almost 10 months to reach a point where the government and the parliament/Shura Council are in agreement. However, both chambers must rubber stamp the downsizing plan in a vote before it is official.
"MANAMA: Radical plans for the future of Gulf Air have been drawn up that could have massive consequences for the airline and its staff.
The government has come up with four proposals: dissolve the airline altogether, sell it off and launch a new national carrier for Bahrain, conduct a downsizing of the carrier or allow it to continue in its current form with government support.
Top secret documents shown to the GDN suggest the second option, to sell off Gulf Air and build a new carrier from scratch, would cost the country BD460 million.
They estimate a downsizing operation could cost as much as BD600m, which one MP told the GDN would be the cost of cancelling international agreements and paying off employees made redundant, among other things.
A joint parliament and Shura Council committee formed on Monday has now been tasked to study the government proposals."
Gulf Daily News » Local News » Radical rethink of Gulf Air's future