Gulf Air Celebrates Success of Madinah Link

Gulf Air last month celebrated the two year anniversary of its link from its Bahrain International Airport base to Madinah’s Al-Munawarah Prince Mohammed Bin Abdulaziz International Airport. Having served Saudi Arabia since 1950, the airline expanded to include the city of Madinah in its network in June 2010, a route that has proved very successful.

Initially serving Madinah four times weekly from Bahrain, Gulf Air increased frequencies to six times weekly in May this year and is considering further growth in the future. The additional flights have increased weekly capacity by 544 seats and have afforded better access into Bahrain and other points in the Gulf Air network.

“We have been flying to Saudi Arabia since 1950 and own the distinction of being the first international airline to land in Riyadh in 1982. We commenced our operations to Madinah Al-Munawarah in June 2010 and have continuously expanded and strengthened our presence since then, with greater flight options, expanded route networks and stronger product offerings. We are very pleased with the performance of our Madinah route over the past two years that has seen strong demand across all classes,” said Karim Makhlouf, Chief Commercial Officer, Gulf Air.

“As the carrier with the largest Middle East network, Gulf Air provides excellent onward connectivity to African, Asian and European destinations. We offer our Indian travellers seamless and faster connections in less than 3 hours giving a choice of as many as 730 flights a week to the Arabian Gulf, Middle East, North Africa and Europe via our efficient hub Bahrain,” he added.

According to IATA statistics, an estimated 23,000 O&D passengers travelled on the Bahrain – Madinah route in 2011 with Gulf Air holding a 93 per cent share of the traffic through the only non-stop air link. In total over 340,000 O&D passengers travelled between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and the table below highlights the largest traffic flows by destination. Gulf Air is currently the second largest operator in this market with a 35.8 per cent demand share in 2011, behind its local rival Bahrain Air , which had a 38.1 per cent share. Saudi Arabian Airlines is the only other operator serving the market and had a 23.5 per cent share of the traffic in 2011.