Gulf Air Developments
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Assessment:
"the act of assessing; appraisal; evaluation" ironbutt; i think the word speaks for itself. we have a tendancy to check, not train. with all our improvments we still have not figured out how to control the outcomes by providing adequate training which ASSISTS the candidate to make a compfortable transition. Fact is only training is once there in the sim. Which is quite good from my experience anyways. I believe we need to change our approach.
"the act of assessing; appraisal; evaluation" ironbutt; i think the word speaks for itself. we have a tendancy to check, not train. with all our improvments we still have not figured out how to control the outcomes by providing adequate training which ASSISTS the candidate to make a compfortable transition. Fact is only training is once there in the sim. Which is quite good from my experience anyways. I believe we need to change our approach.
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the majali rumor could be a little true. maybe talal al zain was unhappy about selling the 340s for a very cheap price. and i guess they must of given him a warning or something.
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Come on guys. Since when have the board & CEO been in it for the thrill of the job & returning GF to its former glory? Never. The board are just there to try to invent new ways to a** rape the poor company & the CEO,justifiably, follows their lead. "Expect Nothing" should be our new motto since it has served me well all these years. Those of you with other options should seriously think about the future & what is the best that could really happen with GF. So we reduce some of the losses (aka offset the stealing) then what? The board will find a way to f*** it up whilst filling their already overflowing pockets & thrust us back into the red. All the time you will be filling out your logbook on the back of a cigarette pack cos that's all the hours are worth when it comes to moving forwards with your career.
All the tiny rays of sunshine,that used to give us a minute sense of hope have now finally been blotted out.
Good luck all.
All the tiny rays of sunshine,that used to give us a minute sense of hope have now finally been blotted out.
Good luck all.
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GF Glory
It is sad to see GF reduced to this. It has helped many a person launch off into great careers, unfortunately, not in GF. The biggest problem was the arrogance of the previous local CEO's that caused the start of the break up. The ignorance combined with the arrogance of the only remaining state caused it to get into this position. The thinking was that we don't need you, our point to point sevices across the globe would offer great connectivity from a single point, Bahrain.
The Pearl of the gulf is fast loosing its sheen. Even now with things reaching levels of unsustainable losses the arrogance continues, expecting state subsidy to live in a delusional oppulance. The only way out for GF is to get an identity. Accept that the glorious 'Five Star Tristars' days are over. The state will not fund the airline to get back anywhere near those levels. It has to be a 'slave trader' and a regional operation. To facilitate the lucrative banking sector, and whatever is left of the pride of the island ,a skeletal service to Europe.The current CEO seems to be heading in the right direction. However, the choice of airplanes seem to be incorrect. The ERJ's are far too small and lack significant baggage carrying capacity, a pre-requisite in this region for expat passengers. The aim should be to track Africa, India and the 'Stans'. If he sticks with these regions instead of pulling out from them the airline stands to gain. The public confidence in the airline is reducing because of the uncertainty of continuing services to cities. The frequent fliers will flee faster than the airline would like and fuel all the other carriers of the region who are smacking their lips increasing services to Bahrain
To add insult to injury ' Bahrain Air ' tries to ensure the demise of aviation on an island that saw the birth of Aviation in the region. Forget the past, Bahrain is too small an economy to sustain an intercontinental airline, accept it and move on.
The Pearl of the gulf is fast loosing its sheen. Even now with things reaching levels of unsustainable losses the arrogance continues, expecting state subsidy to live in a delusional oppulance. The only way out for GF is to get an identity. Accept that the glorious 'Five Star Tristars' days are over. The state will not fund the airline to get back anywhere near those levels. It has to be a 'slave trader' and a regional operation. To facilitate the lucrative banking sector, and whatever is left of the pride of the island ,a skeletal service to Europe.The current CEO seems to be heading in the right direction. However, the choice of airplanes seem to be incorrect. The ERJ's are far too small and lack significant baggage carrying capacity, a pre-requisite in this region for expat passengers. The aim should be to track Africa, India and the 'Stans'. If he sticks with these regions instead of pulling out from them the airline stands to gain. The public confidence in the airline is reducing because of the uncertainty of continuing services to cities. The frequent fliers will flee faster than the airline would like and fuel all the other carriers of the region who are smacking their lips increasing services to Bahrain
To add insult to injury ' Bahrain Air ' tries to ensure the demise of aviation on an island that saw the birth of Aviation in the region. Forget the past, Bahrain is too small an economy to sustain an intercontinental airline, accept it and move on.
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GobonaStick
are you meaning us pilots the ones pushing with unreasonable demands?
let's see who was all for gf growth plans.
September 04, 2008
Gulf Daily News » Business News » Gulf Air signs deal for Boeing Dreamliners
the crown prince was the signatory to growth, right next to talal alzain. don't blame anyone else, ceo, managers, pilots, board members (a completely useless anyway who's every action has been counterproductive for gf anyway).
my point is apportion the blame correctly rather than blame anyone else but the very top.
obviously the economic climate has changed and plans must change accordingly. but not on orders.
i've said it before and i'll say it again. cancelling orders is not the answer as deliveries are still years from now. what if the economic climate greatly improves? gf will miss out because you can not suddenly acquire aircraft then.
The people destroying the airline are those who think they can push it around with their unreasonable demands, while sucking the money out of Bahrain's economy.
let's see who was all for gf growth plans.
September 04, 2008
Gulf Daily News » Business News » Gulf Air signs deal for Boeing Dreamliners
SEATTLE: Gulf Air yesterday signed a deal to buy eight more Boeing Dreamliners.The agreement was sealed during a visit to the US planemaker's Seattle plant by Crown Prince and Economic Development Board (EDB) Chairman Shaikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa.
my point is apportion the blame correctly rather than blame anyone else but the very top.
obviously the economic climate has changed and plans must change accordingly. but not on orders.
i've said it before and i'll say it again. cancelling orders is not the answer as deliveries are still years from now. what if the economic climate greatly improves? gf will miss out because you can not suddenly acquire aircraft then.
Last edited by brassplate; 8th Jan 2010 at 16:13.
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Brassplate u r suddenly making sense with ur useful comments lately.
U r right. acquiring aircrafts is far more difficult than cancelling orders.
Gulf air is really in turbulent weather as i witnessed first hand the amount of people who have said that they are handing in their resignations soon.
Heard that QR is having a roadshow soon in Bahrain...How true is that. Can anyone confirm pls
U r right. acquiring aircrafts is far more difficult than cancelling orders.
Gulf air is really in turbulent weather as i witnessed first hand the amount of people who have said that they are handing in their resignations soon.
Heard that QR is having a roadshow soon in Bahrain...How true is that. Can anyone confirm pls
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Remember this article? Just to prove that nothing will happen. Just air talking.
Qte
MPs delay Gulf Air corruption probe
Qte
MPs delay Gulf Air corruption probe
Lawmakers have delayed a corruption probe into Bahrain’s Gulf Air until after the summer to avoid shaking confidence in the troubled airline, but are still calling for the immediate sacking of its under-fire CEO, an MP said in comments published on Tuesday.
Abduljalil Khalil, parliament’s financial and economic affairs committee chairman, said up to seven expatriate airline officials face questioning over alleged corruption and mismanagement, Bahrain’s Gulf Daily News reported.
"There are corruption and mismanagement cases affiliated to six or seven expatriate senior officials at the company, among other issues, but that will be put on hold to ensure that Gulf Air makes some money during the summer," Khalil was quoted as saying.
"We don't want to harm the company, especially when we are trying to help it stand, but things will be opened again when the summer is over."
Khalil said the probe would be pushed back until September.
He said MPs are calling for CEO Bjorn Naf’s head due to massive losses the airline continues to make.
MPs in January demanded Naf’s replacement by someone with the right “qualifications and experience”.
Naf was appointed in August 2007 following the resignation of Andre Dose quit after just four months in charge amid mounting financial losses.
In April 2007 Gulf Air announced it was to restructure its operations in a bid to curb losses of $1 million a day. The plan includes destination, fleet and employee cutbacks. Khalil said losses now stood at around $700,000 a day, according to Gulf Daily News.
Naf has said Gulf Air hopes to break even in 2010.
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It will be more exciting to watch paint dry than to witnes this so-called "mass exodus".....unless all the expat Catholic staff are all leaving for church at the same time..
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ironbutt57
It will be more exciting to watch paint dry than to witnes this so-called "mass exodus".....unless all the expat Catholic staff are all leaving for church at the same time
Had enough of the persecution I guess or perhaps watching the paint dry.
Cheers
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Gulf Air union threatens strike amid cutbacks
[Wed, Nov 25, 2009 10:25:00 am]
DUBAI - Gulf Air’s beleaguered management has “one more chance” to reach a deal with staff or face strike action, a union chief said late on Tuesday after the airline announced job cuts, aircraft sales and route cuts to save almost $3 billion.
“For the time being we have given a chance to the Labour Ministry to solve this problem. After that we might go for a sit-in or strike,” Mustafa al-Tooq, chairman of the Gulf Air Trade Union, told Maktoob Business in a telephone interview.
Samer Majali, Gulf Air’s latest chief executive, on Monday unveiled a fresh five-year restructuring plan aimed at turning around the fortunes of the loss-making airline.
The airline, fully-owned by the Bahraini sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat, launched its new business strategy after a three-month structural review, with its Chairman Talal al-Zain saying it plans to become a sustainable business by 2012.
Zain also said Mumtalakat may sell a stake in the airline and would sell "a minimum of a 25 percent”.
Gulf Air has struggled to compete in recent years and has been in a seemingly constant state of turmoil - haemorrhaging cash, witnessing management upheaval and finding itself subject of several government corruption investigations.
Tooq laid the blame for Gulf Air’s troubles squarely at the feet of airline management, accusing them of “corruption and mismanagement” and threatening to expose this through the media.
“There is corruption and mismanagement, that is the problem. Solving this problem should not come at the expense of staff, who are loyal and very productive,” he said.
“If the management is not willing to solve the problem internally, then we will use the mass media, present our case to parliament and international organisations. A part of defending our rights is to expose the corruption,” he added.
Gulf Air was not immediately available for comment.
Majali said on Monday that if Gulf Air did not restructure it would lose around $2.65 billion over the next five years.
"We have a serious revenue problem because we operate from a small base with high costs,” he said.
The airline employs about 5,700 people and flies to more than 40 destinations in 28 countries.
Tooq said the management wants to terminate 1,160 staff and privatise the airline. He said the union is prepared to fight these moves.
Majali is Gulf Air’s fourth chief executive in three years after Bjorn Naf resigned in July amid criticism from Bahraini lawmakers who threatened yet another probe into corruption at the airline.
The airline was still losing around $700,000 a day this summer, according to a senior MP, despite major restructuring in 2007 that included destination, fleet and employee cutbacks
[Wed, Nov 25, 2009 10:25:00 am]
DUBAI - Gulf Air’s beleaguered management has “one more chance” to reach a deal with staff or face strike action, a union chief said late on Tuesday after the airline announced job cuts, aircraft sales and route cuts to save almost $3 billion.
“For the time being we have given a chance to the Labour Ministry to solve this problem. After that we might go for a sit-in or strike,” Mustafa al-Tooq, chairman of the Gulf Air Trade Union, told Maktoob Business in a telephone interview.
Samer Majali, Gulf Air’s latest chief executive, on Monday unveiled a fresh five-year restructuring plan aimed at turning around the fortunes of the loss-making airline.
The airline, fully-owned by the Bahraini sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat, launched its new business strategy after a three-month structural review, with its Chairman Talal al-Zain saying it plans to become a sustainable business by 2012.
Zain also said Mumtalakat may sell a stake in the airline and would sell "a minimum of a 25 percent”.
Gulf Air has struggled to compete in recent years and has been in a seemingly constant state of turmoil - haemorrhaging cash, witnessing management upheaval and finding itself subject of several government corruption investigations.
Tooq laid the blame for Gulf Air’s troubles squarely at the feet of airline management, accusing them of “corruption and mismanagement” and threatening to expose this through the media.
“There is corruption and mismanagement, that is the problem. Solving this problem should not come at the expense of staff, who are loyal and very productive,” he said.
“If the management is not willing to solve the problem internally, then we will use the mass media, present our case to parliament and international organisations. A part of defending our rights is to expose the corruption,” he added.
Gulf Air was not immediately available for comment.
Majali said on Monday that if Gulf Air did not restructure it would lose around $2.65 billion over the next five years.
"We have a serious revenue problem because we operate from a small base with high costs,” he said.
The airline employs about 5,700 people and flies to more than 40 destinations in 28 countries.
Tooq said the management wants to terminate 1,160 staff and privatise the airline. He said the union is prepared to fight these moves.
Majali is Gulf Air’s fourth chief executive in three years after Bjorn Naf resigned in July amid criticism from Bahraini lawmakers who threatened yet another probe into corruption at the airline.
The airline was still losing around $700,000 a day this summer, according to a senior MP, despite major restructuring in 2007 that included destination, fleet and employee cutbacks
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What time is the mass exodus begin tomorrow?
Imagine after 4 - 6 years working for GF, having seen four different CEO's and their miraculous turnaround plans, already under command assessment, having to wait another year and a half, at least, to resume their command assessment, God knows in which fleet, while all the juniors will remain on their current fleet.
For captains it's just a matter of accepting it or not. By now, only expat captains are being transferred to ERJ and A340 captains are having their blocks changed by A320 simulator without short notice.
There is no list available to see who are first 14 FO's, who are in the group A and B to be transferred and so on. Just a telephone call "informing you" that you are going to training in January or April.
They even don't know which ERJ model is coming, when exactly the training will start and, the last but not the least, if this aircraft will be successful.
You might be ending unemployed after one year with just a ERJ rating valid...
" An easy way for a blind to go and a clever path for the fools..."
Very sad indeed!
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Albergineman, it is not only expat Captains from the 320 that are being forced to move. You really should know better than to start posting devisive comments like that. I am sure that most agree that GF, although not the best airline in the region, is by far the fairest when it comes to treatment of expat vs local which is something & we are all being screwed together. Now is the time when we should be sticking together, not pointing fingers at each other since we all know where the blame lies.
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now things are really getting bad...... more and more people are being forced to E-Jets and others to 320. the list is going up the seniority very fast because they are loosing people from the bottom of the original list. looks like its Majali's way of natural attrition of pilots (just f......k their life and future and u wont have to sack them. they will leave and we'll collect the bond, and make some cash).
and yes its locals and expats in the sh...... together, and no , I'm expecting anyone to stand together.
one word for the management: you might think your doing a good job, but just remember(what goes around comes around).
and yes its locals and expats in the sh...... together, and no , I'm expecting anyone to stand together.
one word for the management: you might think your doing a good job, but just remember(what goes around comes around).
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now things are really getting bad...... more and more people are being forced to E-Jets and others to 320. the list is going up the seniority very fast because they are loosing people from the bottom of the original list. looks like its Majali's way of natural attrition of pilots (just f......k their life and future and u wont have to sack them. they will leave and we'll collect the bond, and make some cash).
and yes its locals and expats in the sh...... together, and no , I'm expecting anyone to stand together.
one word for the management: you might think your doing a good job, but just remember(what goes around comes around).
and yes its locals and expats in the sh...... together, and no , I'm expecting anyone to stand together.
one word for the management: you might think your doing a good job, but just remember(what goes around comes around).
the airline already has the 320s so why do they need those emb?
all i could say GF could have a brighter future only if majali would stop thinking about the commissions that he may receive for ordering the emb jets
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I have seen pilots morale being low on numerous occasions before, but in all honesty not to the current scale. Everybody literally had their smiles wiped off their faces by this sudden change.
Many ppl, including myself thought that with the arrival of Majali, GF wud really stand on its feet and face the current crisis strongly and boldly.
But now unfortunately, we are seeing this ailing company bowing down on it's knees and losing buoyancy much faster than predicted.
Lets face it, that Gulf air is finally on it's way to the abateur
Many ppl, including myself thought that with the arrival of Majali, GF wud really stand on its feet and face the current crisis strongly and boldly.
But now unfortunately, we are seeing this ailing company bowing down on it's knees and losing buoyancy much faster than predicted.
Lets face it, that Gulf air is finally on it's way to the abateur
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I had five years at GF. Not a bad airline in 2002, but suffered from too many hubs and far too much bureaucracy ... oh, and too many Bahrainis for whom a day's work was about 50% of what most expats did.
Then there was the disaster that was Gulf Traveller. Set up to appease Abu Dhabi. A lot of good that did!
The best thing in that period was the new branding which gave the airline an excellent image. Just a pity that too many of the interiors were not updated or held together with Duck Tape.
After JH's departure things rapidly went downhill. One hub, which we thought would be the best thing to have happened for a long time, turned into a lost opportunity because the Board interfered at every turn ... and was made up of a bunch of guys who liked to think they knew something about aviation, but didn't.
Their igorance of the business was well illustrated by appointing that know-nothing Bjorn Naff as CEO.
Now the whole operation appears to be sinking like the Titanic.
Pity, because I still believe the Gulf Air brand is an excellent one and could be rescued.
But it would need the Board and Parliament to stop interfering. The appointment of a CEO who had a clear mandate to get on with the job. Maybe Majali is the right guy, maybe not.
The Embraer thing does not make much sense. Much better surely to stick to the A320 family of jets. Reduced maintenance costs, reduced training costs, familiarity with the manufacturer.
Watch this space I guess. Where will GF be at the dawn of 2011?
Then there was the disaster that was Gulf Traveller. Set up to appease Abu Dhabi. A lot of good that did!
The best thing in that period was the new branding which gave the airline an excellent image. Just a pity that too many of the interiors were not updated or held together with Duck Tape.
After JH's departure things rapidly went downhill. One hub, which we thought would be the best thing to have happened for a long time, turned into a lost opportunity because the Board interfered at every turn ... and was made up of a bunch of guys who liked to think they knew something about aviation, but didn't.
Their igorance of the business was well illustrated by appointing that know-nothing Bjorn Naff as CEO.
Now the whole operation appears to be sinking like the Titanic.
Pity, because I still believe the Gulf Air brand is an excellent one and could be rescued.
But it would need the Board and Parliament to stop interfering. The appointment of a CEO who had a clear mandate to get on with the job. Maybe Majali is the right guy, maybe not.
The Embraer thing does not make much sense. Much better surely to stick to the A320 family of jets. Reduced maintenance costs, reduced training costs, familiarity with the manufacturer.
Watch this space I guess. Where will GF be at the dawn of 2011?
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Actually Wapses,I have it on good authority that our esteemed CEO has been given a free hand, indeed from what I heard he made that a condition of the job.His remit was simply DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO TURN GULFAIR AROUND.........well he has certainly done that,so now ask yourself:is Mr M. the right man for the job? I think not.