Gulf Air is on the up in punctuality stakes

Gulf Air, the national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain, continues to make significant improvements to its operational efficiency and in February the airline was the most punctual carrier in the region.

"Our alignment programme is on target and bearing fruit with positive results in our punctuality and we are at par with the best in the commercial aviation business," says Gulf Air President and Chief Executive Björn Näf.

"Our on-time performance has significantly improved and this has been positively acknowledged by our customers," said Mr. Näf, who is spearheading the punctuality initiative, which is a key factor in customer satisfaction.

He said that airline's punctuality improved significantly with a major internal alignment of the components related to flight operations, in addition to the implementation of the new revamped network on July 1.

"We set a benchmark for ourselves and what we have achieved is way above our ambitious target and we believe that we are in February the most punctual airline in the region," said Mr. Näf adding that the average on-time performance for February 2008 was nearly 90 %.

"The average arrival and departure punctuality during the last week of February was 97 per cent," he noted.

Prior to the launch of the new network in July, the airline's on-time performance was between 30%-40%. Since then, the performance has been improving remarkably.

He said that the airline also publishes its punctuality report on the website to reflect Gulf Air's operational performance in a transparent manner.

"We want to be the airline of choice and we are working hard to win the hearts and minds of our customers," Mr. Näf added.