The inaugural flight of Gulf Traveller, Gulf Air’s subsidiary, all-economy airline, took off from Abu Dhabi June 15, 2003. The flight, destined for Jeddah, officially marked the international carrier’s all-economy services.
The airline will serve routes presently served by Gulf Air’s network, specifically those where customer demand exceeds existing capacity, and includes leisure destinations in Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Tanzania.
Along with Jeddah, other cities within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) also feature on the destination list, while future plans include extending the network to include secondary European destinations. During the summer months two feature destinations for Gulf Traveller will be Salalah and Zanzibar.
From July 2, as part of the summer schedule, there will be two, weekly, direct flights between Abu Dhabi and Salalah, Oman’s premium destination on the Indian Ocean and also known as the perfume city of Arabia. The schedule allows for convenient connections from key destinations on the Sub-continent, Europe and Asia.
In addition, effective from June 18, twice weekly flights to Zanzibar from Abu Dhabi and Muscat are being reinstated. The re-introduction of flights between Zanzibar and Gulf Air’s two gateways in the Gulf will also give passengers from East Africa connection opportunities to many other destinations on the Gulf Air network.
Gulf Traveller is operating out of Gulf Air’s base in Abu Dhabi using six single-class Boeing 767-300s, all decked out in the distinctive new livery, an extension of the airline’s new corporate identity introduced earlier this year. A dedicated crew including pilots and flight attendants have been recruited and are based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) capital.
Gulf Air was founded in 1950. Today, it is owned by the Kingdom of Bahrain, Oman and the UAE. The airline’s network stretches from Europe to Asia and covers 43 cities in 32 countries. The fleet is one of the most modern in the Middle East and comprises 30 aircraft. The airline is in its first year of a three-year strategic recovery program. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
