From TME 1974: Yet another aspect of the continued progress being made in the Gulf area was forthcoming last month when, in April 1974, Gulf Air implemented its £4 million expansion programme with the introduction of a daily VC10 service between the United Kingdom and the Middle East.
The company had been operating local services in and around the Gulf for many years under the name Gulf Aviation and for the last four years has flown under a sub-charter agreement with British Airways from London.
Gulf Air bought four VClOs from British Airways and these will be flying under the airline’s own colours of red, green and maroon, which represent the national flags of the participating states – Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Oman.
The airline said it would continue its close association with British Airways for some time, although after March 31 the British Airways 21.5 per cent shareholding in Gulf Air was cancelled. The board of directors consists of representatives from the four holding states.
Gulf Air’s UK manager, Nicolas Moudarri, told TME that a training scheme for air crew from the Gulf states has been introduced and four pilots from each state are already receiving instruction in the UK.
The airline’s aim was to develop its own identity, separate from British Airways with whom previously, it has been closely associated, and to eventually become self-sufficient from a commercial point of view.
Daily flights from London called at Beirut, Doha, Bahrain, Dubai, Muscat and Abu Dhabi. The schedules were arranged to offer passengers the advantage of leaving London in the morning at 09.30 and arriving in the Gulf in the early evening. Flights on Saturday were non-stop London to Bahrain, departing at 20.45 from London to reach Bahrain at 05.05 a.m., Abu Dhabi at 08.00 and Muscat at 09.35.
In addition, Gulf Air maintained its extensive local network with connections to Cairo, Amman, Kuwait, Dhahran, Shiraz, Sharjah, Bandar Abbas and Salalah.
The emergence of a new air service from the Gulf will undoubtedly add to the already considerable influence the Middle East has brought to bear on world aviation.
While the new service will cater for the increasing number of businessmen travelling between the Gulf and Europe, Gulf Air is also bearing in mind the not too distant future when tourism begins to play a larger part in Gulf economies. A great future is seen for the Gulf in this respect and Abu Dhabi has already hired tourism planning specialists and consulting engineers to carry out feasibility studies on tourist business potential on the coast, where the possibilities are obvious, and less well known attractions such as the inland oases, said a spokeman for the airline at the time.
UPDATE: In 2007 the government of Bahrain took over full ownership of the airline, as the other partners concentrated on developing their various national carriers. Gulf Air continues to operate scheduled flights to 59 destinations globally.
