Bahrain F1 ticket sales remain firm

FAST TRACK: The three-day F1 event will feature action from the F1 World Championship, Porsche Supercup, GP2 Asia and Speedcar Series and Chevrolet V8 Middle East Championship. (Getty Images)

Air ticket sales for the upcoming Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix have remained firm despite an anticipated slump due to the global financial crisis, according to the Bahrain-based newspaper, Gulf Daily News.

The event saw around 50,000 passengers fly into the oil kingdom last year, and Gulf Air expects to match the requirement despite cutting down on some of its hospitality for the event.

The Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix is scheduled for April 24.

The three-day F1 event will feature action from the F1 World Championship, Porsche Supercup, GP2 Asia and Speedcar Series and Chevrolet V8 Middle East Championship, the daily adds.

In addition, the event will also showcase the first public exhibition of 24 famous F1 cars dating back to 1932, some of which are worth millions of dollars.

"What we're finding is that people are moving down the cabin rather than not flying," a Gulf Air spokesman told Gulf Daily News.

"We've already had to upgrade our flight (to a larger plane) from Dubai on race-day to accommodate demand and we are looking at other routes where we may have to do the same thing."

However, the spokesman admitted that the airline had been forced to cut some of its costs.

"It's absolutely business as usual but we are being careful on costs with our hospitality this year," he said.

"We had a large party on the Saturday night (before the race) last year that we're not holding this year, which makes sense as we've got to be a lot more prudent with what we spend now."

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