Change is afoot at Gulf Air, with a new Chief Executive Officer set to lead the airline in 2023 and new service to the USA now closer to reality.
Gulf Air Appoints Jeffrey Goh As CEO
Goh has been a senior executive at Star Alliance for over a decade, serving as General Counsel and Vice President of Corporate Services and later Chief Operation Officer before taking over as CEO in 2017 and leading the company’s move from Frankfurt to Singapore.
Gulf Air was once the leading carrier in the Middle East before being rapidly eclipsed over the last two decades by Emirates and Qatar Airways. Over the last several years, the carrier has slowly rebuilt, primarily by investing in an updated fleet including Boeing 787-9 and Airbus A321LR jets.
Speaking of his new position, Goh said:
“I am extremely honored to have the confidence of the board of Gulf Air Group Holding and looking forward to the opportunity of leading the group and working with the board and all employees of the group to deliver some very exciting objectives.
“Gulf Air has a very rich and long history of over 70 years, and I am privileged to be part of a team that will take the group to new heights, particularly as we emerge from the Covid crisis.”
Gulf Air chairman, Zayed Alzayani added:
“We are very excited about this new chapter in our Aviation History and as Bahrain embarks on taking its aviation experience and heritage globally, we look forward to have Mr. Goh as an important and vital member of our team. We wish him success in his new mission and look forward to welcoming him and working with him.”
Goh will assume his new position on January 1, 2023.
Gulf Air Considers USA Service
As Gulf Air expands, it is eyeing a return to the United States, a nation it has not served in nearly three decades. The carrier recently requested a foreign air carrier permit with the United States Department of Transportation (DOT), the first step toward establishing an air link between the two countries. While Gulf Air flew Fifth Freedom routes in the past via Geneva or Larnaca (more so due to aircraft restraints), this time it “anticipates launching non-stop service from Bahrain to the United States upon receipt of all required government approvals.”
One Mile At A Time notes that the carrier has posted a job posting for a manager at New York JFK. Houston, the de facto energy capital of the USA, is also under consideration according to comments from Bahrain’s oil minister.
With limited demand for travel between the Bahrain and USA, this seems to be more a prestige route than a potential profit center. Gulf Air’s network cannot compete (nor tries to) with the likes of Emirates, Qatar, or even Etihad, but it hopes to offer a “boutique” product with warm Arab hospitality onboard that will distinguish it from others (if my recent flight was any indication, the carrier has some work to do). That strikes me as wishful thinking, though I would love to see Gulf Air serve the USA.
CONCLUSION
Changes are coming to Gulf Air. The carrier has appointed a new CEO with decades of industry experience and plans service to the USA. Can Gulf Air regain some of its former glory as the premier carrier of the Middle East? 2023 will be an important year in pursuing that goal.
The thing about Gulf Air was once the governments of Abu Dhabi, Qatar, and Oman all decided they wanted to leave the airline and start their own airlines, poor Bahrain was on it’s own (and it probably is either the poorest or second poorest GCC country). And unlike many of it’s GCC neighbors, it doesn’t have the resources to fund an airline the same way the like of Qatar or the UAE can.
It might work as a boutique airline, but there is still the market between the US/Europe and Asia/the Middle East that it can still benefit from.
They could perhaps look for a fifth freedom opportunity like EK are flying ATH-EWR. Something like BAH-BHX-JFK 3-4 times a week could work pretty well for India/Pakistan traffic while also picking up some pax only flying across the pond. Yields may not be great all year round, but the planes wouldn’t be flying empty.
I’m not sure if it’s true that they haven’t flown to the US for 3 decades. Didn’t they used to have flights which they shut down around September 2021 due to COVID? There were definitely flights between IAD and BAH. AwardHacker still shows the following flights, although they haven’t flown in over a year: GF7018, GF7102, GF7702, GF7802, GF7904.
Definitely not. I’m not sure when they last had flights, but it was cut long before that.
https://www.radarbox.com/data/flights/GF7018
Another one. https://www.flightera.net/en/flight/Gulf+Air-Washington-Bahrain/GF7102
That must be a cargo flight. No way that flight operated with passengers. I took UA from IAD-BAH. There was no GF flight going back at least a decade.
Those flights were made just to evacuate Afghani refugees. Those weren’t scheduled services but rather private chartered flights
The article isn’t about potential new routes to the U.S., but the appointment of Jeffrey Goh as CEO.
If Gulf Air was bad before, it will be a catastrophe now. JG does not have “decades of industry experience”. He’s never worked for an airline before, in any capacity. Star Alliance is not engaged with airline operations or the business in general. It is a marketing company, plain and simple. And JG managed to destroy that company. He moved it to Singapore (resulting in the firing of 95% of the staff) only because he couldn’t manage (or accept) European laws and protections.
He won’t be able to manage Gulf Air; he’ll just spend his entire time making useless speeches and abusing his own staff (he doesn’t listen to anyone).
Good luck Gulf Air. You’ll need it!