Quote: Bahrain is set to own 80 per cent of Gulf Air stake by May 1, the aviation company currently equally co-owned by Bahrain and Oman.
The new ownership deal, which leaves Oman with only 20 per cent was announced by Bahrain's finance minister Shaikh Ahmed Bin Mohammad Al Khalifa to a local radio on Wednesday evening.
But the minister did not divulge further details, saying that there would be a series of meeting to discuss the developments and the company's needs.
It is also not clear if the move is aimed at a complete withdrawal of Oman from Gulf Air's board, as the country is developing its own airline, Oman Air.
Looks like GF is now set to be Bahrain's national airline. With Oman also likely to pull out totally sooner rather than later, the airline once the 'pride of the Gulf' looks like soon becoming a one-hub regional player.
Quote: Oman's decision last month to raise their shares from 34 to 81 per cent in Oman Aviation Services (OAS), which operates the national airline Oman Air, was an indication of the government's possible intentions of withdrawing from Gulf Air.
BigTom From India, joined Dec 2006, 587 posts, RR: 3 Reply 3, posted (5 years 2 months 1 week 3 days ago) and read 1252 times:
Yeah, GF might get some more flexibility to function once the reins are in one hand, but 748s or 744s are a bit too much for BAH O&D traffic. I can't see them developing BAH into a comparable h&s operation to compete with the likes of DXB and increasingly DOH and AUH too need such big aircraft.
QatarA340 From Qatar, joined May 2006, 1478 posts, RR: 8 Reply 4, posted (5 years 2 months 1 week 2 days 21 hours ago) and read 1113 times:
Sooner or later we will see a slow exodus of direct flights from MCT and an increase in services from BAH. Also, I expect OmanAir to order 787's in the near future or perhaps aquire some used B767's (hopefully not GF's!) to expand internationally.
CV580Freak From Bahrain, joined Jul 2005, 1030 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (5 years 2 months 1 week 2 days 19 hours ago) and read 1005 times:
Well it looks as though the Golden Falcon will be a Bahraini airline at long last and I doubt that the B747 was ever thought of as that was a gem of a GDN misquote.
Interesting to see that the contract for the expansion plan for BAH to increase pax capacity from the 3m to 15m was signed late last year
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