Gulf Air Restructuring and Retrenching in the next few months.

[hal3]

Tha Bahrain newspaper GDN, has reported grave news for GF staff,be a national or an expatriate.. .Staff will either be retrenched,restructured or rehired.. .That is the only condition on which the four controlling states will keep their bargain of giving 15 million each to carry the airline through these diffficult times.. .The news pointed out that the status of the company is only half related to SEP 11 and the other half is due to inefficient staff and bad habits,meaning,people should be in GF due to their merits and not otherwise.. .Better said than done,so lets see what comes out of it. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />

[BAE146]

codswallop! gulf air have always been inefficient and had hopeless management nothing will change and the member states will continue to pump millions into the airline to save face. this is a rumour and a pretty poor one at that.

[Captain Sensible]

Must disagree with last; between 1979 and 1982, GF was generally regarded as one of the best airlines, in respect of both being a passenger with, and also working for them.

[ironbutt57]

I find GF a most pleasant airline to ride on, with excellent cabin service, and helpful staff...bookings and reservations are another matter...but have seen much worse..especially in the USA. . . . <small>[ 17 March 2002, 11:46: Message edited by: ironbutt57 ]</small>

[Speedbrake Lever]

Hey 146. .. .Watch your back. .. .SL

[pontius's pa]

Whilst they face serious competion from EK and even QR,I have always found GF really quite pleasant to fly on.

[BAE146]

cap.sensible, I was not talking about the service or frontline operation. no complaints there and neither have 90% of our pax. just management and the squandered millions of dinars due nepotism and "favourites" in the system. it will NEVER change here...sorry fact of life.. .speedy brake,have been doing that squire since two days after joining this company many moons ago when I realised it's not what you know but who you know in GF. I have never resorted to brown noseing my way to success in avaition and won't start now.

[Dr. Hibbert]

Call me naive, but the tone of the announcement, and the fact that words like "crisis" can even appear in the GDN makes me think they might just be serious this time.

[dobbin25]

Does this company really have any other options if it REALLY is serious about surviving ??. .. .It can hardly consider losing flight deck, how many times a week are they short of crews ? Training Captains in right hand seats, stand byes utilised to the extreme ? BUT I understand (rumour)the over staffing in the admin side of things is out of control ? . .. .If the owning states are serious, then the only salvation will be NO POLITICAL INTERFERENCE,and an external management team that cannot be influenced,manipulated by local sentiments.. .. .I rest my case.

[ironbutt57]

Politics and greed will never disappear...looks like 146 never learned to spell aviation either <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" /> <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="smile.gif" />

[rsoman]

It was reported in a local language newspaper here that flights ex Muscat to India are to be reduced. Flights from Muscat to Trivandrum (Tri weekly) and Delhi (4 times weekly) are to be stopped and the twice daily flights to Bombay is to be cutdown to daily effective 01April. Also as per the same report the Gulf Air hub at Muscat is to be pruned.. .TK

[Firbolgs]

Certainly sounds like poor old GF is headed down the slippery slope, as an ex Gulfie I wish all the crews the very best, its a shame that the corruption and greed at the very top have ruined a good airline.. . <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="frown.gif" />

[yasserfat]

GF is not an airline really..just a money-laundering device for some local chaps..and jobs for the boys of course. Expats please think again.. .. .And these rumours of a diminution in size have much truth in them.

[Press To Transmit]

How long can Goof Air survive in a region where the likes of Emirates, Qatar, & Oman are going from strength to strength???. .. .The amount of money pumped into this ailing desert camel would keep most small countries going for a lifetime.. .. .Pull the plug & get it over with.....& stop prolonging the agony with yet ANOTHER retrenchment campaign.... .. .Every dog has it's day & GF's was a long time ago. Put the old girl out of her misery......PLEASE!!!

[ia1166]

I am sure all the staff at GF agree with you ptt. not!. Thank f your interests are just golf and not much else.

[G.Khan]

P to T - Emirates came into being because the board of GF could not agree to give Dubai its own daily London service, the two partner states who caused all the trouble were Qatar and Oman who couldn't fill one VC10 Standard aircraft between them but said, "If Duabai has a daily direct flight then so must we" The ruler of Dubai then put the wheels in motion to bring about Emirates.. .It is now Qatar and Oman who have chosen to set up their own airlines, (in direct competition with Gulf) whilst remaining partners who are, once again, causing all the grief.. . . . <small>[ 22 March 2002, 06:01: Message edited by: G.Khan ]</small>

[oneilas]

Lufthansa Came into the rescue,what happened,was it a waste of money.. .And now an american company SH&E,what difference does it make.. .Germans pass it on to americans!!!!!. .A few months with the powerful lot in the gulf and they all will be re-programmed to take it easy and another bust for GF????. .Lets hope I am wrong and GF really makes it this time. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Confused]" src="confused.gif" />

[ia1166]

The germans didn't really do anything but cost GF a lot of money and install their pet projects. As far as i am aware SH&E have come up with a rescue plan and have been given a free hand to implement it. It is pretty wide ranging and sounds very good. If it works and imho it will then GF will survive.

[BAE146]

gentlemen please you don't know gulf air, they will get through this because the member states will see to it. it's like a drug, they just have to keep pumping the money in. loss of face is very bad news in these parts.the party goes on just like down route everything is enshalla that's all, make whoopee with the hubbly bubbly.. .GF will survive this crisis like every other one, there will be the usual "sacrifices" but hey, all in the name of Allah habibi.

[Fluckbynight]

From Saterdays Bahrain Tribune. .. .GF future hinges on new plan. .. .Gulf Air's strategy to bring radical changes in all of its vital sectors to ensure its financial growth may result in a resounding success or in removing it from the airline industry and replacing it by a Bahraini airline company.. .The new strategy, to be implemented by the Canadian aviation consultants Simat Helliesen and Eichner Inc. (SH&E), includes a comprehensive change of job structure, the implementation of a new network plan, the restructuring of its fleet and a re-assessment of its employees in all sectors, a report in the London-based daily Al Hayat said yesterday.. .Gulf Air's deficit currently stands at around $100 million which the four owner countries said they would pay only if the first stage of the strategy drawn by SH&E was successful.. .The airline had made efforts last year to improve its performance and cut expenses, paying $159 million to cover its deficit. However, the amount was exhausted mainly by the airline's operational costs.. .In the case of the strategy's success, the owner countries will accept paying their dues. However, if the strategy fails, then a new airline project will be revived. The Delmon Air project, which is currently frozen, comprises the setting up of a Bahraini airline with Cathay Pacific owning 25 per cent of the stake, the newspaper said.. .The strategy, to be announced at a Press conference on Tuesday or Wednesday, will include amending the position of Chief Executive and President to just Chief Executive and eliminating the positions of assistant managers.. .According to the report, the airline is conducting interviews for the post of Chief Executive Ð and is looking particularly for either an Englishman or a US citizen. . .A Danish Deputy Chairman for Financial Affairs and an American Head for the Planning and Network Scheduling Department which had been separated, based on the new strategy, from the Finance Department, have been already appointed.. .The strategy includes closing down unprofitable destinations and increasing the flexibility of the company fleet to deal with its profitable destinations. This will result in the airline doing away with wide-body aircrafts and using medium aircrafts and 100-seater aircrafts.. .The report said that the airline might downgrade the number of its employees (5,200), but will upgrade the number of air-hosts. Members of the airlineÕs executive committee will arrive in Bahrain on Monday to discuss a number of urgent matters and sign the contract with SH&E for the new strategy, Al Hayat said.

[G.Khan]

Sounds as though they are going back to where it all started so many years ago, an expat. management team and and a major foreign carrier, (was BOAC), holding a 25%stake. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="frown.gif" />

[Desertia]

The Bahrain Tribune reported this last week, before the GDN did, they also mentioned that Gulf Air are talking to Bombardier and Emprear (sp?) with a view to dumping 340's and taking on small ( less than 50 seats?) "feeder" aircraft.. .The BD60 million has ALREADY BEEN PISSED AWAY.. .Basically this is a survival plan, and if they don't do something this time, the member states (which basically means Abu Dhabi in this instance, cos they are Bahrain's best mates) have said that they will no longer keep pouring money in, just so that Shaikh *** and his f***ing cronies can keep stealing it.. .For the first time I can remember, they actually said as much in the newspaper (probably because they were told to). Expect more job cuts (but not in cabin crew) and some serious re-organisation.. .Regards,. .Desertia

[RG]

If all the posts in this forum prove true, this all seems like a great way to get your own airline set up (by experts) thereby maintaining most of the tangible and intangible benefits of a locally based international carrier. And, most importantly, without assuming any responsibility for Gulf Air's many skeletons such as the rumoured rampant corruption, the money losing flight operations and most of all the long awaited GF072 accident report.