Gulf Air reports performance improvements in 2009 data

Gulf Air announced its key performance data today at the airline's board meeting in Bahrain

The airline carried around 5.7 million passengers in 2009 - slightly more than in 2008. The Revenue Passenger Kilometers (RPK) also showed a better performance by registering a 2.1% growth. The overall flight punctuality has also reached 82.5% during the year registering an increase of 12.5% over 2008. Technical Dispatch Reliability has reached 98.1%, which the airline says is well above the industry norms.

CEO Samer Majali also presented a report for January and February 2010 in which the company made an overall cost-saving of 12.3% - a significant positive performance indicator. The seat factor also registered a growth of 4.1% for the two months when compared to the same period last year. Technical Dispatch Reliability for two months also reached a commendable 98.8%. The airline has flown 870,000 passengers in these two months.

Majali said, “The performance results are a positive indication that our new strategy is working well and we are on the right track. We were able to reduce overall cost due to our careful forward planning, prudent cost-saving measures and efficient performance optimization and, of course, a great teamwork.”

Mr. Majali also highlighted several other positive developments at Gulf Air. “Our Bahrainisation level has reached 53% and our efforts to encourage and employ more Bahrainis are paying off; the recently launched campaign to recruit Bahrainis for our customer-facing positions has been received well looking at the number of candidates applied. “

“At the same time we are conscious of the financial impact due to the total number of employees we have on our roll. We have started optimising on this front and as a result, we have now around 300 less staff in our strength than last year. We were able to achieve this due to our strict contract-renewal criteria, freeze in recruitment except critical positions, and freezing positions that fall vacant through natural attritions such as resignations and retirements.”

A full briefing on Gulf Air can be heard on the Arabian Aerospace podcast.