Gold Magazine June - July 2013, Issue 27 | Page 15

interview

five minutes with...

Yousif
Saeed

Sales Director, Gulf Air

M

any people know Gulf
Air as the official sponsor of the Formula One
Gulf Air Bahrain Grand
Prix. What else should we know about
the airline?
Gulf Air was founded in 1950 and is the
national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain.
As a pioneering airline in the Middle East
region with over sixty years of experience
and expertise in flying people across continents, Gulf Air is one of the most powerful
brands and a name to be reckoned with in
today’s global aviation industry. One of the
prime objectives of Gulf Air is to connect
Bahrain to the Middle East countries and
the rest of the world. To this end, the airline currently operates the largest network
of non-stop flights in the Middle East,
while providing seamless onward connections to other international destinations.
The airline’s current network stretches from
Europe to Asia, connecting 38 cities in 30
countries, with a fleet of 40 aircraft.
How important is the Larnaca-Bahrain
route to Gulf Air?
Cyprus is a significant market for Gulf Air
which introduced flights to and from the
island in 1976. It is evident that the Cypriot and the Bahrain markets interact very

well. Larnaca is seen as a point which connects the Cypriot market and the hub of
Bahrain to the broader network being operated by Gulf Air. Cypriots are not strangers
to Bahrain and they have contributed to the
kingdom’s economy in various ways. They
are very familiar with Bahrain’s culture and
tourism.
What are Gulf Air’s strategic goals for the
future?
In tune with “Vision 2030”, the Kingdom’s
economic blueprint, Gulf Air’s strategy
is to operate as an efficient, commercially
sustainable and dynamic airline that effectively serves the people and the economy of
Bahrain and represents the kingdom on the
world stage. Reflecting the needs and aspirations of its customers, the strategy focuses
on three core areas: a targeted, more focused
international network; a superior, more
consistent product; and a modern, more
efficient fleet that will optimize value. Gulf
Air’s goal reflects a commitment to the latest
aviation technology, which is complemented
by the hallmark Arabian hospitality for
which the airline is well known
The airline was recently honoured with a
prestigious award.
Yes. Gulf Air was named the winner in

the ‘Virtualisation’ category at the 2013
Network World Middle East Awards
ceremony held in Dubai, in recognition
of the airline’s ongoing and noteworthy technology innovation. The award
recognizes Gulf Air’s high level of IT
services that help it achieve a high level of
customer satisfaction and deliver service
excellence.
Gulf Air recently appointed Orthodoxou Aviation as its exclusive General
Sales Agent (GSA) in Cyprus. How did
you make your choice?
With several decades of travel trade experience and a strong team of marketing
and sales professionals, supported by
highly-trained and efficient reservation
personnel, we felt that Orthodoxou Aviation was the right choice for Gulf Air.
We are very pleased with its appointment
as our GSA for Cyprus.
As the largest network operator in the
Middle East, and thanks to its codeshare
agreement with Cyprus Airways, Gulf
Air offers a great business potential to
passengers. Through our new General
Sales Agent, we are looking to strengthen
the airline’s position in Cyprus and to
promote our network to the Middle East
and beyond.

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