Gordo, keep looking through rose. Much better than Gypsey looing at you through his green tinted raybans !

I'm not a subscriber so can't read the whole story, but the local rag says:"LABOUR officials will hold an urgent meeting today to discuss the dismissal of dozens of employees from Bahrain’s national carrier Gulf Air. Contracts of Bahraini and expatriate employees were terminated yesterday as part of restructuring plans."

There is at least one Gulf Air trade union I believe.
But on the bright side.

"In November Gulf Air will start operating its latest fleet of Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner on the Bahrain-Bangkok route."

(I'm only SLF, but stopped flying GF years ago because of the age of the planes and quality of service. After the Qatar kerfuffle, I tried them again to BKK and was pleasantly surprised to find clean, new cabins; decent, helpful staff; and reasonable F&B options. The IFE is still s**t though!).

AFAIK Gulf Air has been losing money for years, but it is such a massive employer on the island (directly and indirectly) that its loss would be a hammer blow for the local economy.

170 "employees" ; any pilots amongst that group ? This is a pilot's forum, that's why I ask. We constantly read of a pilot shortage so I doubt any pilots would be laid off. GF however ? Never, really, got the numbers game right, ever. Furthermore, who is an "expat" ? Local Arab brothers from the region were often regarded as expat to the Bahrain community but "local" when it suited GF,

Landflap I love my green tinted Raybans. No distortion unlike those Rose tinted ones:{

As for " envy based vitriol " Not sure how that can be?? Just like taking the mickey out of Gordo from time to time as I can rely on certain people getting all excited. I left GF with scores of others and joined SQ as a DEC spending half the time in the bunk, staying in nice hotels in town miles from airports unlike GF. No hot beds waiting for outgoing crew's rooms to be serviced. Would I swop Singapore for Bahrain?? No way. Better money in SQ The list is endless..

Kindly explain the envy.

PS For the record I will stop taking the p*** and getting fourbars and others up in arms as bad for their health clearly.

and still at SQ?, or wound up at Qatar like most of the rest?....

Slowjet asks a good question of Smokey ; how many of the rumoured 170 lay-offs were pilots? None, I suspect. Still a discomfort to those who are now looking for work. Gypsey states he left GF along with "scores" of pilots. A "score" is 20. "Scores" would be at least two score, let's say 40. In my 17 years with GF, I never saw at least 40 leave along with "thegypsy". GF hotels were fabbo. The Hyatt in Muscat was a treat and no where near the airport. Doha Hotel was a bit close but there wasn't much choice. Excelsior at LHR was very close but everyone else stayed there, including the mighty CX and any accommodation within 60 miles of LHR is a bit close to the airport. Looks like you rested in your SQ bunk a bit too much Gypo .

Gordomac

Oh dear. Now you are showing your ignorance of the English Language. Scores in the context of my sentence means a lot. Like Scores of people were hurt in the rush. That does not literally means multiples of 20 dear boy. Perhaps English is not your first language in which case I apologise.:confused:

IB Now retired like you perhaps in Redneck County?

@Gordomac , as far as i know there were no pilots in bunch, however i think if it's a terrifying sign when an airline lay-off this much staff! I think we all agree that one of many thing we are looking for as pilots is job stability!

Cheers mate ..

Smoke mountain : I note the reply to my question through Gordomac's . Agreed, unfortunate for those losing their jobs. To be honest, GF, like many other companies, carries too many support staff.Painfull measures but almost certainly required in the slimming down process in order to achieve better results.

Ironbutts : see what we mean? This Guy just doesn't have any class and swings away with his handbag even when told to sit down.Can't bring up NCO's to Officer standard. Mods will probably start deleting his knee-jerks but until then, your own the ignore button works quite well.

Got to agree with Gypsy here . SOP in those days ( apparently ) was to have the crew hotel located downtown and within walking/crawling distance from the nearest casino . Not sure if this policy still in force . It's been a while......
Flight deck deadheading policy was also something else ; unlike ME airlines , both Captain AND F/O were usually in F . The protocol in those days , once on board , was to change out of uniform and get stuck into the Dom Perignon ( or Krug if you so preferred ) . Singapore Girl's brief was -" no glass shall remain empty " . Good old days !

Finally, its about time!! Will ask my mates and let you know .. Good luck AA

Still one of the worst employers in the Gulf area....I really don't see any valid reason as to why a qualified pilot would wanna apply in GF.
Leaves cancelled with 24 hour notice, 4 sectors per day, 90 plus hours a month, outdated pay regarding accommodation (700BHD) not enough to rent anything
descent, extremely poor school allowances, probably the worst of all the Arab employers, I can go on and on and on....
GF is what we call.....a used to be airline back in the 80's and 90's......its days are well over since many years ago....
one would have to be crazy to apply there, they also have been known to fire and terminate pilots contracts overnight...this happened to friends of mine in 2014 where a lot of expats who joined the airline just 6 months ago were terminated and sent home!!
come on lets be realistic here....there are much better options out there.....with better pay, better allowances, commuting roster, and leaves that will not be cancelled 24 hours before you go to the airport to go on vacation with your family.....

Absolutely spot on. They desperately need a blood transfusion and remove all middle management managers that have been in their job roles since Dinosaur era.

airborneska, you are absolutely spot on too. What you advise will never happen though. The wasta system well in control. Too many sticky fingers in too many tills as well.. It is not just the middle managers who should go but the seniors too. They appoint (albeit through nepotism) the middle guys. Gulfair reaping what they sow. No amount of re-saying all this will ever change a Flying Club mentality and a quick profit for the "jobs for the boys" network. But as our friend Gordomac has often said, they are still "bloody nishe blokes" !

its the gold fish syndrome, keep it in a small bowl, it will remain small, put it in a bigger bowl, it will grow, GF has always suffered from small bowl (island) syndrome, and while making grandiose plans, haven't the balance in the checkbook to fulfill those...at one point after the departure of Oman, 900 million dinars was pumped into GF over a short period of time, only to "disappear" with no apparent effect on the airline...sad really, the military CEO they had for a while was anti-expat,(wanted a pilot meeting held, but no expats, "they are nothing to us contract labor"), had all those recent hires made redundant when the EMB was canned(EMB, product of another profiteering CEO who occupied the office on the 3rd floor..and rude to boot) despite protests of the crew planning manager they were needed for the upcoming summer schedule increase.... so the saga continues..the middle managers find it hard to remain on track, as the shifting sands are constantly moving the rails around...they were always good to me, and most of the folks I knew there, I can understand the bitterness of some who arrived, only to be cut 6 months later, or the ones who were cut after resigning from their jobs, only to be told not to come

Have just read an MOU with EY has been signed. Hoping this is somehow good for both pilot groups .

Again GF is posting DEC positions, and I have not heard from them.
What is up with that?