Gulf Air Adds Fifth Frequency to Istanbul

Gulf Air is to introduce a fifth weekly frequency on its Bahrain – Istanbul route, at the same time modifying its schedule. The new Thursday service will be introduced from May 17 and will be operated by an Airbus A320. An estimated 56,000 O&D passengers travelled between the two cities in the past 12 months, up 11.3 per cent on the previous 12 month period. The Bahraini carrier has seen its share of the market diluted from 38 to 26 per cent in the past year having seen its passenger numbers decline, although rival Turkish Airlines (THY) has reported a 25.8 per cent rise in traffic across the same period, thanks in a big part, it is believed, to its lower fares. THY currently offers a daily late night flight from Istanbul, which returns from Bahrain during the early morning hours.

Gulf Air is to offer a split-schedule on the route – three flights will depart Bahrain to reach Istanbul early afternoon, while the two others will depart Bahrain late evening to reach Istanbul in the early hours of the morning. This is a model that Gulf Air is developing on a number of its routes providing passengers with more flexible options to choose their arrival and departures according to their business and leisure needs as well as potential onward connectivity options for those travelling beyond Bahrain.

Schedule:

GF043 BAH0940 – 1355IST 320 137
GF045 BAH2030 – 0045+1IST 320 24
GF046 IST0145 – 0550BAH 320 35
GF044 IST1500 – 1905BAH 320 137