Bahrain’s national carrier Gulf Air has announced the launch of its commercial operations to Israel with a twice-a-week service to the capital Tel Aviv.
The airline’s debut flight GF972 took off from Bahrain International Airport at 10.40am (September 30), carrying officials from Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority, the National Communications Centre, Bahrain’s Civil Aviation Affairs, members of Gulf Air’s executive management as well as commercial passengers, thus marking the start of Gulf Air’s two flights a week service in the airline’s newest Airbus fleet.
Speaking at the launch event, Gulf Air’s Acting CEO Captain Waleed AlAlawi said: “We are making history by connecting the Kingdom of Bahrain and the State of Israel with scheduled commercial flights.”
“The double weekly flights are just the start and we will periodically assess the commercial performance to upgrade frequencies whenever feasible and required,” he noted.
In December 2020, Gulf Air signed five commercial agreements with five different Israeli aviation-related companies; a comprehensive MoU for a potential joint codeshare and commercial cooperation with El Al, a general sales agent agreement with TAL Aviation, a line maintenance agreement with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) Aviation Group, a ground handling agreement with QAS Israel and an agreement with Newrest Israel for on-board catering.
