GULF Air has managed to achieve a number of positive accomplishments during the first quarter of 2002, said the President and Chief Executive of Gulf Air, Mr. Ibrahim Abdullah Al Hamer. å“The seat factor during January to March 2002, reached 73 % against 70 % during the same period in 2001, an increase of 3.3%. This current figure is the highest in a quarter year, in the history of Gulf Air.å”

“The airline has achieved excellent 86 % landing and take-off on-time performance at the end of March 2002, as compared with 79 per cent at the end of first quarter of the previous year. Mr. Al Hamer said that the total number of passengers in the business class has dramatically increased during the first quarter of this year. Gulf Air carried 65,560 thousand passengers during this period against 47,101 thousand last year, an increase of 39 % is shown.

He added that the passenger yield has increased by 4 %, during the first quarter of the current year. At the same time, Gulf Air announced in a press statement its preparations for the summer season, which will feature a number of developments and increased frequencies.

Weekly departures from Abu Dhabi increased to 213,an increase of 51%, and from Bahrain to 234, an increase of 12%, despite the closure of some routes, such as Australia, Athens, and Milan. This increase aims at coping with the volume of traffic at these two major stations. Beirut flights have gone from six flights per week to double daily from the Gulf. Cairo has increased from 13 to 16 each week, all but one operated by 767 aircraft with increased capacity for both passengers and cargo.

Jakarta now has increased to four flights per week. Damascus 10 weekly flights, three operated by 767 offering additional passenger and cargo capacity. Kuwait has gone from 16 to 20 flights. Larnaca increased from two to three. Lahore is now four flights every week on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. London increased to 26 flights each week, of which our flagship Airbus A330 aircraft operates 19.

Our summer operation to Mashad will operate on Mondays and Thursdays. Our Intra Gulf schedules feature more standardisation of flights throughout the day to and from the major cities. On the other hand, Gulf Air said that preparations are underway from now to implement the Winter Schedule within the plan submitted by SH&E (the Consultant Office of Gulf Air), which has been approved by the board. The winter schedule begins by the end of October 2002.

Gulf Air said that the winter schedule will aim at focusing on the major areas in order to
enhance operational efficiency on sound economic criteria, and to go ahead with the airline’s ongoing programs of improvement and development to fulfill the needs of its valued passengers all over the network.

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