As part of its commitment to the continuous improvement of quality management, Gulf Air, the flagship carrier for Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar, is to be the first Gulf airline to introduce internal quality assurance personnel for flight and ground operations, as well as cabin services.

A total of 60 Gulf Air staff will now be trained to assess procedures and ensure company and regulatory standards are followed and maintained, in addition to carrying out their day-to-day duties.

Under the existing regulatory guidelines of the Civil Aviation Authority of Oman, Gulf Air`s quality assurance system is limited in the areas of service and department activities it covered.

The new regulatory audit system being developed with the assistance of Lufthansa Consulting, a leading international aviation consultancy, will provide greater enhancement of standards in quality and efficiency.

The new Quality Assurance Auditors are all volunteers and from a mix of backgrounds and grades. As part of their training they will undergo a four-day Quality Auditor Course, the first series of which takes place from the 21 to 24 May, which will follow the principles of ISO 9001-2000 auditing, which is the internationally recognised quality standard for customer service industries.

This extended audit scheme is part of a programme of activities to enable Gulf Air to fulfill the requirements of a new and comprehensive quality system modeled on JAR OPS 1, (Joint Aviation Regulation), which has become the new airline regulation standard and has been adopted by leading airlines in Europe.

The President and Chief Executive of Gulf Air, Ibrahim Abdulla Al Hamer said: “By choosing to adopt a higher standard of regulatory system, Gulf Air will ensure improved levels of quality assurance in cabin services, and within both flight and ground operations.

“As a result, Gulf Air passengers will benefit from a better quality of service, while the airline will quickly experience improvements in efficiency,” he added.

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