Bahrain’s national carrier Gulf Air has announced that its first Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner will serve its double daily London Heathrow service.
The new aircraft, which conducted a fly pass before the Bahrain Grand Prix race on Sunday, will join the fleet on June 15, the airline said in a statement.
A total of five Dreamliner aircraft will enter Gulf Air’s fleet by the end of 2018 with an additional two aircraft arriving during 2019 and three arriving by the end of 2020.
Gulf Air CEO Krešimir Kucko said: “We are only weeks away from officially taking delivery of Gulf Air’s first Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner – a historic moment for Gulf Air and Bahrain and yet another important step in our strategic direction towards furthering Gulf Air’s fleet modernization process and supporting our network and overall passenger experience enhancement strategies.
“Only a few weeks ago, we unveiled a new Gulf Air corporate strategy, 2018 network expansion plans to 8 new routes, details surrounding our incoming fleet, new, best in class products and services, our new overall direction and where we hope the future will take us all. It is time for change and we are embracing change today.”
This summer, Gulf Air will also expand its network with flights to Bangalore, Alexandria, Casablanca, Baku, Abha and Tabuk in Saudi Arabia, Calicut, and Sharm El Shaikh.
Gulf Air’s Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners will offer 282 seats in a two-class configuration, with 26 Falcon Gold Class seats and 256 Economy Class seats.
Marty Bentrott, vice president, Boeing Commercial Airplanes Sales for Middle East, Turkey, Russia, Central Asia and Africa, said: “The number of airlines operating this super-efficient airplane is increasing across the world and we look forward to the Dreamliner joining Gulf Air’s fleet.”
Source:http://www.arabianbusiness.com/transport/393801-bahrains-gulf-air-says-first-dreamliner-to-launch-on-london-route