BOAC origionally held 22% of Falcon Aviation the predecessor to Gulf Air which was formed on 01 January 1974 by Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates all controlling 25% of the newly formed airline.
Although Gulf Air purchased five standard VC10s from British Airways during 1974/75 and one standard VC10 from British Caledonian Airways in 1974 (A40-AB) they initially leased two VC10s from British Airways in 1974 in full Gulf Air colours and with BA flight and cabin crew untill they were eventually purchased by the airline in March 1975, they were G-ARVI and G-ARVL.