No future for GF in AUH
 

Can there really be a future for Gulf Air in Abu Dhabi now Etihad is up and running, they are dropping Colombo it can only be a matter of time before there base closes and its all of to Barhain again!
Thoughts?

:confused: :confused:

West

Just for your information it is Gulf Air who is running the show in Abu Dhabi airport and not Etihad. Ever since Gulf traveller was introduced the pax traffic in Auh rose by at least 40-60%. This amount of pax is certainly much more than what Etihad can handle. Maybe by the time they increase their fleet, offices, staff and establishment it will take at least 5 -10 years if not more to replace the operation run by GF in Auh...And by the way It's Bahrain not Barhain...

Toga :)

Ethiad plans 50 aircrafts by 2009. Where are they going to put them. AUH !!?? there is barely enough room now as is !

I don't think this will happen that easyly. The guy who is running Ethiad was GF CEO a few years ago. He was a real idiot back then. We will see how far money will get him !!!
Ethiad up an running. Yes but with only 3 or 4 airplanes (or maybe 5). We need more time to see what happens to them. they just started a few month ago. And everybody is already swearing by them and comparing them to EK.
EK is way ahead. it will take time for them to catch up. Good luck!!


:ok:

Yes EK is well ahead. They nearly totalled one of their aircraft in JoBurg on the 9th April. Thank !!!! nobody was killed. The whole gulf region is expanding too fast, something will give and it nearly did.

Firstly, thanks for the spelling lesson, always good to learn!
I dont mean to upset people, and well it clearly does, but all i was saying was that in time, it would seem that GF will pull back to its major base. Once GF was that force in the gulf region and now everyone with an oil well is setting up an airline, or at least all the founder member states of GF are anyway. its not rocket science is it, sooner or indeed later Etihad will be the major player at AUH. In fact i would go as far as to say if EY were to allow GF pilots to join, there might well be one or two jumping ship anyway....No?

:cool:

As I understand, Etihad is doing extremely poorly and its CEO is in big trouble. I heard on a number of occasions, the LHR flight would have no more than 3 passengers total! CMB fights are practically empty (not more than 25 per flight). If anybody has any confirmation, I would appreciate that. They just got another 500 million dirhams cash injection. Seems to me the Sheiks thought it would be very easy to create and manage an airline. I still wonder why they don't invest the money with GF instead of creating another airline in the region. There are very limited markets out there and most of them (such as the ISC and S.A.) have restrictions on the amount of seats and flights you can operate to due to Government bilaterals.

Well can't comment on other Colombo, but i used Etihad the other day to London and back and the flight to AUH wasn't too busy maybe 80 or so in the cheap seats, and on the way back i guess it was 2/3 full, never saw the nice seats so can't tell, didn't seem a bad load for a newish route.
As for the CEO, if thats the german guy, you seem to be wide of the mark, they seem to like him very much, he had 100 million dollars to set up with and so far has spent less than a 1/4 of that, there expansion is restricted by aircraft, or the lack of.:D

Like crap GF are pulling out of CMB!!!

Where do you get this nonsense? EY and GF both have been full going out of LHR over summer and both have hardly any pax on it now due to the end of season.

I have to say that EY's onboard service is no better than GF's. Seats are all the same, uncomfortable etc etc.

GF have the services... lounges, dedicated areas, experienced staff. EY don't have any of this yet.

GF's Lounge in Bahrain and the new one in London are really great! And the dedicated Transfer area in AUH, coupled with the new BHX(Birmingham, UK) - AUH route shows that GF isn't leaving soon.

I would rather travel on a GF flight with a Sky Nanny to keep those bloody irratating children quiet, a Sky Chef and new state of the art Virgin Airways type closed seats and flat beds (soon to be fitted) than with an airline whose inflight crew look like they are going to a funeral with the men wearing black and the women wearing grey.

Althogh biased because I work for GF, I have to say they are a lot better than EY.

EY still have a lot to learn. They started running before they could walk, and now they are starting to stumble.

Air dream, tell me you were never a "bloody irritating child" once upon a time:yuk: :yuk:

Keep it nice - he's dragged a thread that died in May out of the basket - give him crdeit for that.

Please keep your impending squabble off the air & continue using PM's or email.

4HP

NTM your quote " was an idiot" he still is.

In fact I wish thats all he was, as thats curable though it might take a long time.

But like everything on this planet Money talks , shame ,

but c'est la vie

SL

What about the "idiots" who ran USAir, United, and the rest into the toilet? One of the great pleasures of life is to sit back and watch and wait and see what happens...griping or worrying about anything are a waste of time in this industry..you're only as good as your last paycheck.....10 yrs time we might be fighting over a left seat in a Boeing dreamliner....or right seat in a C-402 business liner! what to do?

EY Market their product . It all boils down to the marketing and GF have to realize this if not I am affraid to tell you that GF will be smothered by EY.

An example of marketing my friend is Fosters Beer. It is a World recognized beer but you talk to a local Aussie and he would not even spray the Fosters on his Bar-B-Que to simmer the fire. VB is the choice beer down under but unfortunately Fosters is marketed better worldwide so there for sales are better. This is just a small example of maketing a less superior product can fool the world public eye.

I think GF will soon ( a few years) have to pack their bags and go back to Bahrain. EY is taking over and has big money behind it to go big guns at GF.

My humble opinion.

Six months ago, someone predicted GF's leaving CMB, (still waiting...) Goat, the EY hat seems have fallen over your eyes, lift it up and have a look at the marketing that GF is pouring out, then compare that to the few billboards around the UAE for EY. I also don't seem to see the latest EY awards for service and catering etc that GF is putting on the mantle in the games room! Long way to go before the statements made might be realized. Keep trying though, I enjoy the spirit of it.
Be good...
LC:ok:

At the end of the day politics rule here, nothing to do with market forces, economics, REALITY...watch and wait,...don't speculate:confused: :cool:

GF are playing catch up now after they see the money the Emirates and Etihad spend in Advertisement.

Sorry to tell you this but GF were thinking that since they have been around since Adam was a boy ( YEARS AND YEARS) that they could skate on by. Now it is catch up time and the advertisements are now coming.......... It only took some 50 years to do this hun?

Sound business practise..."Let's see, EK and EY have spent X in adverts, HOLY S**T, we're falling behind, call the board we need to spend!" Just where did this subject come up in school?

Safari Goat,

You forget 'Brand Equity', GF has loads of it. GF doesn't need to go about with the in your face marketing followed by EK & EY.

With regards betting on which airline out EK,EY,QR & GF likely to fold/contract, in my opinion it is EK. GF has a very strong regional network and is well entrenched in SAUDI & OMAN, the 2 largest pax markets in the middle-east. And their code share with SAUDIA is only the start of saud inv into GF.
The rest of the crowd are chasing the indian market. Here QR & EY have a advtg due to their oil/gas diplomacy and EK is flying in only on gratis, follow this link to see where the money is coming for EK http://www.mosnews.com/money/2004/08...baiyukos.shtml

As i see it EK will soon set a leasing co like SALE. The excess eqpt will be leased out ; again to the indian market. You'll hear very soon that JET AIRWAYS an indian carrier leasing 2 777s off EK.