For several years now, Gulf Air executives have been talking about plans for the airline to resume flights to the United States. The company’s CEO is now indicating that service could start within the next year. While it’s anyone’s guess if this happens, let’s talk about what we do know.
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Gulf Air has been undergoing a transformation
Bahrain-based Gulf Air used to be the biggest and most global airline in the Gulf region. This was when politics in the region were different, and before we saw the development of airlines in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, etc.
Over the past couple of decades, Gulf Air has largely struggled to compete with its peers in the region. The airline had an outdated fleet, and didn’t have a global route network. However, the airline has spent the past several years undergoing a major transformation, whereby the airline has modernized its fleet, opened a new terminal at its hub, and has focused on its core strengths.
For example, Gulf Air’s long haul fleet now consists primarily of Boeing 787-9s, featuring excellent Apex Suites in business class. The airline has 10 of these in its fleet, with a further two to be delivered.
That’s not all — the airline is also taking delivery of 16 Airbus A321neos (including some “LR” variants), and some of these feature fully flat beds in business class, which is awesome for regional flights. The airline is certainly becoming a more appealing option, though as of now the carrier only flies as far West as London, and as far East as Manila.
Gulf Air wants to resume flights to the US
For some background, in 2019, former Gulf Air CEO Kresimir Kucko stated that the airline wanted to launch flights to the United States within three years:
“We will be operating in the coming years more in Europe and also the Far East. Hopefully, in the coming two, maximum three years, we would be able to open flights to the US.”
The airline flew to New York and Houston back in the day (if I recall correctly, Gulf Air actually flew from Bahrain to New York to Houston), though that route was cut over 25 years ago. Currently the airline operates flights exclusively to Europe, Asia, and Africa.
While the pandemic probably slowed down Gulf Air’s ambitions to return to the United States, this could very well become a reality again. Back in 2022, Gulf Air filed with the United States Department of Transportation (DOT), requesting a foreign air carrier permit. In the filing, Gulf Air stated that it “anticipates launching non-stop service from Bahrain to the United States upon receipt of all required government approvals.”
While we haven’t heard much about this in the past couple of years, Gulf Air CEO Jeffrey Goh (for those not familiar, he’s the former CEO of Star Alliance) is now on record as saying that the airline could launch flights to the United States as early as mid-2025. When discussing the carrier’s transformation and plans to fly to the United States, Goh states:
“We are seeing the light shining through the tunnel. If all goes well, we may be looking at a mid-2025 launch, pending aircraft availability.”
Now, “pending aircraft availability” does seem like a major caveat, especially when you have only 10 long haul planes. Flying a route to the United States daily would require more than one plane, so presumably some service would need to be cut to facilitate this.
While no final decision has been made, it seems most likely that if Gulf Air does launch flights to the United States, New York would be the obvious choice. In theory there’s also the potential for Houston to be a destination, as Bahrain’s oil minister has in the past stated that the country is looking at developing closer ties with Houston, and was looking at setting up a nonstop flight.
I’d love to see this happen, especially with Air Canada and Gulf Air having a partnership. This would be a great way to redeem miles for travel between the United States and the Middle East (and beyond).
How does Gulf Air expect to succeed in the US?
Is Gulf Air considering resuming United States flights because the airline thinks it can actually make money flying here, or is this about prestige and business ties?
Gulf Air executives have historically recognized that the airline is more of a boutique carrier, and that’s the strength the company hopes to focus on. As the previous CEO of the airline admitted:
“You can’t compete with airlines that are bigger in size, volume or with prices. You can only compete in quality. I can compete with any airline, no matter the size, with the quality of my product. That’s the battle I willingly participate with a chance to win.”
“We want to offer our passengers traditional Arabian hospitality. Which for that to really put true meaning into practice, you really need to offer something unique.”
I totally appreciate a CEO who wants to invest in the product, though he also acknowledged that his airline couldn’t compete in terms of schedule or price.
Keep in mind that pre-pandemic, a total of under two dozen passengers per day traveled between New York and Bahrain, so there isn’t sufficient demand for this route in terms of point-to-point traffic. So this would be all about connectivity, which also means the competition would be fierce.
The reality is that Gulf Air’s biggest competitors are also known for their excellent products, whether we’re talking about Emirates’ A380 business class or Qatar Airways’ Qsuites. I doubt Gulf Air is going to find that people are willing to pay a premium to fly Gulf Air over those airlines.
So adding service to the US doesn’t exactly seem like a money-making recipe. Then again, in many ways long haul economics are better than in the past, thanks to smaller, more fuel efficient planes, like the Dreamliner.
Bottom line
In 2019, Gulf Air announced plans to resume flights to the United States within a few years. I never take these kinds of announcements as a sure bet, since a lot can change.
That being said, the airline is clearly getting increasingly serious about this. A couple of years ago, the airline filed with the US DOT to request permission to launch flights to the United States. Now Gulf Air’s no-nonsense CEO has stated that the airline is still aiming to do this, and flights could launch by the middle of 2025.
If Gulf Air does resume flights to the United States, it seems like it wouldn’t be done to turn a direct profit (at least realistically) but rather to improve links between the two countries.
Do you think Gulf Air will follow through with launching flights to the United States?
Spent my whole youth flying gulf air in the late seventies , eighties. It was a great airline. I grew up In Doha . Stayed there from
1975 to 1990. Gulf air was the mother of all the Middle East airliners. Kuwait airways and gulf air and Saudia airlines are the legacy carriers of the Middle East. I hope to see gulf air in the USA
Thanks Julia for reminding people about the 4 States that created GA.
In the 80's and 90's Gulf Air was my favourite. Unfortunately we had to change planes in London. In the early days Gulf connected to CP Air which meant two great flights. After the takeover of CP by AC the partnership became Gulf and AA which wasn't so great because the flights had to go through DFW.
If the new Gulf...
Thanks Julia for reminding people about the 4 States that created GA.
In the 80's and 90's Gulf Air was my favourite. Unfortunately we had to change planes in London. In the early days Gulf connected to CP Air which meant two great flights. After the takeover of CP by AC the partnership became Gulf and AA which wasn't so great because the flights had to go through DFW.
If the new Gulf air flies to North America I would book in a minute if it is anywhere as good as it once was.
"I doubt Gulf Air is going to find that people are willing to pay a premium to fly Gulf Air over those airlines" Maybe not QR and EK's A380s (as well as EY for that matter), but if I was looking at a route where EK's 777 and Gulf Air's 789/321LRs flew, I'm sure I wouldn't be the only one willing to pay a premium for the latter
Just flew GF on 2 segments, BKK-BAH-FCO. First flight was on 789, Apex suites were fine, but I found myself bumping into the controls often. Service was also minimal with FAs forgetting my second meal. There’s not much to do in Manama at night, Uber and food/drinks is expensive. BAH is a nice airport, but the GF lounge is a bit lacking. No quiet rest area and the only shower for men’s was gross. Food...
Just flew GF on 2 segments, BKK-BAH-FCO. First flight was on 789, Apex suites were fine, but I found myself bumping into the controls often. Service was also minimal with FAs forgetting my second meal. There’s not much to do in Manama at night, Uber and food/drinks is expensive. BAH is a nice airport, but the GF lounge is a bit lacking. No quiet rest area and the only shower for men’s was gross. Food was decent. Next flight was on a 321 with a much better crew. Oddly I found the seat more comfortable for sleeping on the 321. All in all, I think GF is good for the seats. I wouldn’t pay a premium to fly them nor would I to fly EK though, but for the right price, I don’t mind them
Manama actually has some cool bars and nightclubs, if that's your thing.
I took a short J flight in Gulf Air from SIN-BKK last year, and it was one of the worst flights I've ever had. Great plane and seat, obviously, but surly crew and terrible food. I couldn't wait to disembark!
I think they offered good service even before fleet refreshment pre-pandemic. I flew on their A321s from Paris and London and they were very comfortable comparing to other airlines.
If they launch JFK i might give it a shot JFK-BAH-SIN -- the new terminal looks nice! -- but otherwise i must say they've made some odd choices that make it harder to justify connecting to many places with them. They launched BAH-CAN this year but not BAH-HKG??
This is not a criticism or questioning. But I'm curious where you got the data that less than 24 passengers daily flew pre-pandemic between Bahrain and New York? Yet, as you state, connectivity in both directions is the key. Which is why strengthening into an alliance would be the natural to coincide with this and Star Alliance would be the natural if New York and Houston were the target markets. The American partnership is not...
This is not a criticism or questioning. But I'm curious where you got the data that less than 24 passengers daily flew pre-pandemic between Bahrain and New York? Yet, as you state, connectivity in both directions is the key. Which is why strengthening into an alliance would be the natural to coincide with this and Star Alliance would be the natural if New York and Houston were the target markets. The American partnership is not going to cut it.
Also there is the potential that they could go 5th Freedom like Kuwait and operate a one stop via London or elsewhere. A natural actually would be IAH-MAN-BAH. Connect three oil airports in one fell swoop.
Sources would be great. Curious how DOH/AUH/DXB-JFK compare especially. Anyone have relevant data?
As for 5th freedom, not sure IAH-MAN-BAH would make a ton of sense; SQ couldn't make IAH-MAN work.
I thought about that as well but the sweet spot here would be three oil destinations (well, Scotland, but MAN is the best major option). Where I think SQ failed is the continuation to Singapore which really was not in that same trifecta of market interests. If Gulf did this they would have the oil traffic going in every direction from all three points.
Manchester isn’t an oil city. In the UK that’s Aberdeen (“the oil capital of Europe”). But there are no sensible ways of getting between Aberdeen and Manchester to connect to a flight, so in no meaningful sense would MAN be part of an oil route.
Instead, Aberdeen offers half a dozen BA shuttles a day to LHR, and a similar number of KLM shuttles to Amsterdam.
ABZ also offers direct flights to, er, Norwich, which...
Manchester isn’t an oil city. In the UK that’s Aberdeen (“the oil capital of Europe”). But there are no sensible ways of getting between Aberdeen and Manchester to connect to a flight, so in no meaningful sense would MAN be part of an oil route.
Instead, Aberdeen offers half a dozen BA shuttles a day to LHR, and a similar number of KLM shuttles to Amsterdam.
ABZ also offers direct flights to, er, Norwich, which is the main centre for the massive North Sea gas industry (the majority of departures from Norwich are helicopter flights to take crew to gas platforms far out to sea; and you’ll often see a small Qatar-branded jet resting in Norwich for a week or so, as senior officials in the gas industry do inspections or whatever).
Gulf Air did BAH-LCA-JFK-IAH on certain days.
The nights they did JFK-LCA the loads in economy were pretty decent…especially in the summer.
The quality of gulf air back in the 90s used to be horrible, remember some traveler magazine giving it nickname "gulp air"
Has come a long way since but think competition may be tough esp with the region soon to launch Riyadh Air and then Neom Air
"Bahrain-based Gulf Air used to be the biggest and most global airline in the Gulf region. This was when politics in the region were different, and before we saw the development of airlines in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, etc."
It wasn't exactly "politics"...Gulf Air came into being in 1974 when Bahrain, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, and Oman got together to invest in the already existing Bahraini airline, Gulf Aviation. Gulf Air became the flag carrier...
"Bahrain-based Gulf Air used to be the biggest and most global airline in the Gulf region. This was when politics in the region were different, and before we saw the development of airlines in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, etc."
It wasn't exactly "politics"...Gulf Air came into being in 1974 when Bahrain, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, and Oman got together to invest in the already existing Bahraini airline, Gulf Aviation. Gulf Air became the flag carrier for those 4 states. When Dubai launched Emirates in 1985, it began chipping away at Gulf Air's market dominance and profits. Gulf Air started to become less dominant with each year. And once Qatar, AD, and Oman ended their investments in the company one after the other during the 2000s, it just kept eroding more and more.
It's nice that Gulf Air is still around, and I hope it continues, since more competition isn't a bad thing.
Hopefully, they'll build some lounges in the US. They have a one-off lounge at Heathrow that's probably the best lounge in Terminal 4. While they don't take Priority Pass, they do quietly sell day passes for around $40.
And Gulf Air's lounge at Heathrow is a vanity project. So it wouldn't surprise me if they at least have a lounge in the USA.
Really? I quite liked their lounge at LHR. Sure it's small but the views were great, food was really good, showers were nice and staff was good too. Whats not to like?
I said I liked it. I called it a "vanity project" because they don't have enough flights to justify their own lounge. They barely sell access to other airlines. I first discovered it when flying the old Malta flag-carrier that uses/used it. I've since discovered they will sell a day pass. I've used it a half-dozen times when flying Air France or KLM. The Plaza Premium lounge is awful. Gulf Air's lounge is a thousand times better.
LHR is probably the highest revenue and profit route Gulf Air has, I’m not sure at what point a lounge becomes a ‘vanity project’.
It has to be awfully expensive having a lounge for just two daily flights. They barely sell access to other airlines.