Gulf Air is committed to Europe says Boulter

Gulf Air's Chief Commercial Officer, Willy Boulter, has dampened down speculation that the Bahrain airline could be pulling away from European flights following the announcement of its new strategy.

Arabian Aerospace News reported that the airline was likely to be focusing on flights to financial centres such as London, Frankfurt and Zurich but there has been wide speculation that the airline could cut back to a regional-only player.

Essentially the plan is to make Gulf Air a sustainable and profitable business by 2012 with a more focussed international network and a simplified, modern fleet, Boulter explains.

“Questions have been raised as to Gulf Air’s commitment to Europe under the new strategy. Gulf Air fully intends to continue flying to all our strategic European points including London, Frankfurt, Paris, Istanbul, Athens and Larnaca. In the not too distant future we plan to strengthen our presence in Europe, leveraging Bahrain’s position as the financial hub of the Gulf and connecting it with leading financial centres in Europe. Expansion into Europe becomes more viable, under the new strategy, not less,” he said.