Gulf Air is a Bahrain based airline, the flag carrier and national airline of that country. Gulf air operates from Bahrain International Airport as its main base.
Gulf is the pioneer airline operating in the Persian Gulf region and Middle East.
Gulf Air was initially owned jointly by governments of various countries such as Bahrain, Oman and Abu Dhabi. However, each partner parted ways to have their own national carrier, leaving Bahrain as the only owner.
Gulf Air flies to various destinations within Middle East and other parts of the world.
This is one of the prominent airlines frequently used by Indians residing at gulf countries and the most sought international airlines in India.
Gulf Air was originally founded by Freddie Bosworth, an English Pilot in 1950. The airline was named as Gulf Aviation. In the very next year, the airline control was transferred to BOAC (British Airways Overseas Corporation) by acquiring 22% stake.
During 1972, the BOAC stakes were purchased jointly by governments of Bahrain, Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Oman as a result of treaty in October 1972. The name was changed to Gulf Air and became the national carrier of these four countries.
The Gulf Air joined various international forums such as IATA in 1981, to become the first gulf based airline to join such forums.
Gulf air has the distinction of being the first in many occasions. During 1990, Gulf Air started its operation to Australia to become first airliner from gulf region to connect Australia with regular flights.
In 1998, the airliner introduced no-smoking policy during flights on Austrian and Far East sectors to become the first airliner to implement such policies.
Later on, Gulf Air made this policy a mandatory for all its destinations and many airlines followed the same. In 2006, Abu Dhabi withdrew from the alliance to form its own airline following Oman in 2007.
Now, Bahrain is the only owner of Gulf Air having 100% stake.
Gulf Air flights serve many destinations including Asia, Europe, North America, South America, Africa and Oceana.
It covers all major cities of the world covering 26 countries across different continents.
Gulf Air formed alliance with many airlines such as Jet Airways, India, Oman Air, Oman to enjoy code-share agreements and other mutual benefits.
