Gulf Air in complete image overhaul

IMAGE OVERHAUL: Gulf Air plans to redesign all aircraft interiors, its logo, uniforms and passenger lounges.

Bahrain national carrier Gulf Air said on Tuesday it plans to completely overhaul its image in an effort to boost its market share in the region's highly competitive aviation sector.

The airline said it would redesign all aircraft interiors, its logo, uniforms and passenger lounges, as well as make significant changes to in-flight entertainment systems.

Gulf Air has brought in UK-based design consultancy James Park Associates, which previously designed Singapore Airlines' new business class seats on the Airbus A380 aircraft.

“...we will redesign every aspect of the passenger experience to blend traditional comfort with cutting-edge technology and materials to give our customers an unforgettable journey with Gulf Air,” Gulf Air Chief Executive Björn Näf said in a statement.

Gulf Air did not give a timescale for the redesign or say how much it would cost.

The airline said the overhaul would coincide with an expansion of its fleet of 35 aircraft.

Gulf Air announced in January it had ordered 16 of Boeing's new 787 Dreamliners, with options for eight more, and eight of Airbus' A320 single-aisle aircraft. The airline said in March it had finalised the Boeing deal, worth $6 billion.

Gulf Air will also be hoping the redesign will give it a symbolic fresh start after a difficult 2007 that saw the departure of two chief executive in the space of four months and a flood of dissatisfied employees quit for rival airlines.

Gulf Air began a major restructuring operation in April last year after it was revealed the airline was losing around $1 million a day.

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READERS' COMMENTS

Gulf Air
Posted by Rashmi Agarwal, Manama, Bahrain on Thursday 10 April 2008 at 14:06 UAE time


Changing logo will not change consumer perception of Gulf Air. Personally, Gulf Air is my last choice. They need to teach their staff the meaning of word ' service' . Service with a smile would be definitely a tough ask. Their cabin crew attitude is appalling specially in the Asian sector. Think Gulf Air. Think nightmare!!

Gulf Air re-structuring
Posted by Manoj, Manama, Bahrain on Wednesday 9 April 2008 at 09:35 UAE time


Just by changing the logo and the colour of the aircraft, Gulf air is not going to achieve anything. They have to take note of the grievances of the passengers also. I had travelled by Gulf air many times in the India sector and I note the following problems:
1) Gulf Air always overbooks their flights during the rush reasons and at least 30 passengers gets stranded for every flight causing many personal problems for passengers.
2) The Gulf Air staff are indeed a dissatisfied lot and they take it out on the happless passengers. The normal attitude is as if Gulf Air is doing a favour for others.
3) The fare being charged by Gulf Air is the highest for this sector. i.e Gulf Air is not competitive in Ticket Fares.

Due to the above I have decided to use other airlines whenever possible.
Some more people decides like me and then no matter how much they improve their logo, they will still make a loss. Which is natural, because only the Fit should survive

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