The delegation to Israel of Bahrain airline Gulf Air, headed by the airline's acting CEO Captain Waleed Abdulhameed Al Alawi, has been very active in advance of the launch of a service connecting Bahrain and Israel.
The company has signed a line maintenance agreement with Israel Aerospace Industries' (IAI) Aviation Group. Under the agreement, IAI's Aviation Group will provide a comprehensive technical response to all of Gulf Air’s airplanes expected to land at Ben Gurion International Airport, including post- and pre-flight services, daily maintenance, and support for any technical issues. IAI's Aviation Group provides line maintenance services to about 75% of the airlines that land at Ben Gurion Airport.
Gulf Air planes have already landed in Israel bringing delegations, and in January the airline is due to launch a commercial service between Tel Aviv and Bahrain capital Manama, from where it will offer connecting flights to all its destinations.
"We took pride in carrying the official delegation that initiated the historic relations between the Kingdom of Bahrain and State of Israel; which paved the way for us to start new business relations with our colleagues in the industry, such as that with our friends at Israel Aerospace Industries. We look forward to benefiting from their expertise and the wide technical knowledge they are well-known for in the industry," the Gulf Air CEO said.
IAI EVP and general manager of Aviation Group Yosef (Yossi) Melamed said, "The agreement with Gulf Air is a historic breakthrough for providing line maintenance services to the Gulf states. The normalization with UAE and the kingdom of Bahrain, that opened up new business opportunities in the world of aviation, will allow us to provide maintenance, repair and overhaul services for more airlines from the region."
Gulf Air has also chosen Tal Aviation, which represents airlines and tourism companies from all over the world, as its Israel representative to deal with ticket sales, wholesalers, travel agents, and so on.
Gulf Air, which was founded in 1950, has been state owned since 2007. It has a fleet of 35 aircraft, with 40 more on order, and it flies to 49 destinations in 27 countries.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on December 3, 2020
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