Gulf Air to start Sydney sevice in November

[Wirraway]

Gulf Air to start Sydney sevice in November

GULF Air will begin daily services from Bahrain to both Sydney and Athens from November 23, this year.

This will mean that Australian passengers for Greece will have just over one hour in Bahrain to connect to Athens.

"The schedule has been structured to offer both inbound and outbound passengers conveniently timed flights from Sydney to the Middle East, Greece and other Mediterranean countries", said Sydney-based Area Manager David Hagley.

He added, "The new schedule provides excellent connections to Amman, Beirut, Damascus, Cairo, Larnaca, Tehran, Istanbul and all the Gulf destinations.

The airline will operate its fleet of Airbus A340-300 out of Bahrain with a three-class service on daily flights to Sydney via Singapore.

Gulf Air Chief Executive James Hogan said, "There is enormous potential for growth in trade and tourism between Australia and the Gulf region. By providing strong air links, Gulf Air will play a vital role in facilitating and supporting this process".

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[Pimp Daddy]

The terrorists will be pleased with the new connections.

[loungelizard]

Oh Yes, and now that it is confirmed that Emirates have been approved to operate TWICE daily to MEL, BNE and PER with certain rights across the Tasman (check out the NZ newspapers), they will flood into Oz like ground lice.!!!

[Buster Hyman]

You people have totally missed the point! It's just Jim's way of getting guaranteed FOC's for his personal VFR! Full stop.;)

[Pete Conrad]

Well, if you are like the millions that voted for him, John Howard would have you believe that the next "wave" of terorists were on the boats during the children overboard affair.

We all know the "shiny shoe" Mohammed Atta's of the world won't lob into Australia on a shanty, they will come business class on a big jet.

[BAE146]

As usual, we are last at it and will f**k it up inside 2 months. Watch this space!

[Taildragger67]

Ummm...... even before EK started operating to Australia, it wouldn't have taken too much effort for a rogue to get to Australia from the Middle East. Several carriers operate from various Middle East centres, one-stop to Oz. Is this REALLY likely to make much of a difference??!!

No, the point it highlights is that whilst some carriers can turn a buck on this run to the extent that they want to operate 30-odd services a week, others can't see the opportunity. Whilst some can see an opportunity to run an alternative one-stop service to Europe, others can't see that maybe by co-ordinating services through certain Middle East airports with an alliance partner (did someone say 'shareholder'?) might achieve the same aim, thereby getting more punters to the final, slot-constrained destination.

Maybe the possible breaking of some code-share arrangements with this move might make some have a bit of a rethink. The Gulf carriers don't necessarily see their home ports as destinations, but as hubs and transfer ports. And some of them are making buckets of money.

For the punter, the choice is clear: indifferent service bred from constant cuts, or brand-new aircraft, brilliant service, limo transfers at each end and a couple of days' free layover by the beach at no extra. Oh, at about 60% of the price. Hmmmm......

Time the ivory towers gave it some thought.

[Chocks Away]

Here here!:D ,
The only way to the EU isn't via Cockbang or Sing and HK.
People want to stay away from the SARs riden China/Asia area and as such, Gulf and Emirates have jumped on this.:ok:
Pity QF wasn't agile enough to reopen their Columbo route, or flights into the huge demographic of India/new cilicon valley.
"He who hesitates, mast..... !"
:D

[cnsnz]

How did these guys manage to get past GD and into the QF protected Syd.What have they got that EK haven't.
More competition must be good for business ?

[BAE146]

"these guys" had route rights (SIN - SYD - MEL - SIN) when you were still in nappies ! The problem was we could never make it pay, if you ask me now, NOTHING has changed. Without wanting to insult you "colonials", Hoges is doing a reasonable job at the helm, but he's copying Ryanair/Virgin blueprints for low cost opaerations. It won't work !

[Taildragger67]

What won't work is trying to fill your premium cabins when charging around twice as much as someone else whose service is at least as good and gives you nice little extras (eg. car at the other end rather than just spittin' you out into a cold LHR morning; free stop-overs in 6-star hotels).

This is more than just what 'Hoges' is doing, it's about an opportunity. EK has developed DXB as a hub - arguably more sub-continentals now travel to the UK via DXB than with AI and BA - and has seen an active market taking Poms to the Colonies and vice versa. They have slick marketing and a good product. I don't like to see the long-standing, proud incumbents getting hit but when the product is at least as good, I really cannot justify paying double to save an hour and a half. It's not just DXB; recently, QF said its bookings out of Italy were around 50% lower due to SARS and Iraq. Fine - opportunity - fly through Male!! That way, you're opening up a new direct holiday destination for Australians who are sick of Fiji (and for Italians who don't want to change planes, assuming 5th freedoms), you're keeping the service to Italy and you're allaying the concerns of that market.

Spaniards currently wanting to fly to Asia can go with an IB flight number all the way - as long as they go to LHR & get the BA-op code-share flight. Opportunity - talk to your alliance partner and run the code-share through FCO!! Take about 3 hours off the journey with an easier connection in FCO than in LHR and who knows, you might even get some of the zillions of Aussies who go to Spain these days, giving you their cash!!

Anyway, my soap-box is about to collapse.

[Fox3snapshot]

Great stuff, I can make use of my ID75 with Gulf Air to get home again after a long break! I don't know to much about James Hogan's background, but on the face of it here amongst the locals and expats alike.....he is doing a top job!

Pimp Daddy, Pete Conrad and co.

As I will be coming from the Middle East do you now label me as a terrorist...wake up and smell the coffee, put the Daily Sun newspaper down, switch off CNN, stop reading President Bush's speaches (or writing them as it seems) and get back to the real world!

:hmm:

[ReadMyACARS]

Good for GF for trying to expand their business. Trying to get a seat PER - BAH over the last few months has been hard work as Euro travellers have avoided SIN. I would be surprised if GF was not looking to take away some of EK's share of the prize they have out of Perth.

A few things that GF need to look at, get whoever owns Bahrain Airport to clean it up or build a new one, BAH is a disgusting dump and pales after spending 5 hours at DXB. Clean toilets would be a pretty good start.

Get the FA's to ditch the hats! They really look, whats the polite word for it.....lets leave it at outdated. (So do EK's for that matter). Really like the new colour scheme, hopefully the rest of the re branding will be successful.

Taildragger, you have hit the nail on the head. It seems these days that a good CEO is one who ruthlessly cuts costs. I would have thought that a good CEO is one that grows a business and looks at alternatives to maintain the strategy.

RMA

[BarryMonday]

I went up from MEL to LHR last year on EK, up in Business, which was quite uncomfortable, average service and meals so dug very deep and came back in First, again, average service and meals and the only comfortable seat that reclined a decent way was from SIN to MEL.
Won't be doing it again.

Thai International have a good offer MEL-BKK-LHR and I'll be doing that next time.