RICHARD PINKHAM LONDON
New chief executive James Hogan says it will take "two years to rectify" Gulf Air's financial woes, with breakeven planned for year three, and has made service his first priority.
At his first meeting with the media since arriving at Gulf Air in May, Hogan was in London to unveil the airline's new first class service offering and regional holiday product, as well as to lay out his plans for the ailing multinational carrier.
Recognising that premium-class expectations have been raised in the region by such local rivals as Emirates, Gulf Air's new first class aims to "reposition the service proposition". A major component centres on the airline's "Restaurant in the Sky" concept. Initially available only on the London routes, this will feature "five-star" chefs recruited from famous hotels and restaurants in Europe preparing food on order from an extensive menu.
The launch of the carrier's new "Arabian Experience" holiday packages aims to generate increased tourism and traffic flows to Gulf Air's three home markets in the oil states of Oman, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain. The ambition to attract tourists to the Gulf region under the threat of renewed war in Iraq, only underscores the difficulties facing Hogan as he manoeuvres to revitalise the airline and reorganise its cost base.
For his part, Hogan is confident both can be done. In terms of turning the three owner states into vibrant holiday destinations, he catalogues their many charms and points out that Dubai's tourism did not overly suffer during the Gulf War in the early 1990s.
And although Gulf Air has been deeply unprofitable for years, Hogan proclaims that the fundamentals necessary to return the ailing carrier to financial health are already in place. He admits that the imminent defection of Qatar from the ownership circle has not helped the proposition, but insists it will not ultimately prevent his new team from achieving its goals.
Hogan, a former chief operating officer at bmi british midland, is the first westerner to occupy the top spot at Gulf Air, arriving after a brief tenure as head of Ansett in his native Australia. And much of his current management team has been brought with him from Ansett and other Western carriers.
Key to the turnaround will be the mandate to operate the carrier as a commercial entity - also a first for the carrier. Hogan argues that the airline's intra-regional network is already the best in the Persian Gulf and will provide the engine for profits. But he vows to take a hard look at the schedule and see which routes are pulling their weight. "We're no longer looking to support airports in the region," he warns. "Everything we do will be commercial."
Source: Airline Business
