High Flying Aviation Sector
Bahrain’s assistant under secretary for aviation services, Ahmed Nemat Ali, announced late June that the kingdom could soon have the region’s first refitting and maintenance facility for executive luxury jets. Ali added that such an idea made sense in light of the fact that there are already around 350 such jets of various sizes in operation in the Middle East.
Last month, two major airlines announced plans to expand their services to Bahrain. Dubai-based Emirates Airlines introduced a third daily service to Bahrain, boosting its operations to 17 flights a week. In a similar move, Germany’s Lufthansa celebrated its first year anniversary of operations in Bahrain by adding a fourth weekly Frankfurt-Manama flight. Uwe Wreidt, Lufthansa’s director for the Gulf and Pakistan, said that the move highlighted the prominence of Bahrain’s economic boom, which has made it one of the most lucrative destinations in the Gulf for airlines due to the large number of business passengers travelling to the country.
An industry insider told OBG that Bahrain’s position as a regional financial centre is also a reason behind the kingdom’s growing aviation appeal.
Bahrain’s national carrier, Gulf Air, has publicised plans to add more direct flights to key destinations in order to cope with high summer demand. More specifically, from the beginning of this month, Gulf Air increased the number of flights to various Gulf and Arab cities, as well as to the Indian sub-continent and the Far East.
Bahrain’s department of civil aviation affairs (CAA) has also been behind a number of interesting developments. Last month, the agency said it would deploy an enterprise asset management programme at Bahrain International Airport (BIA) to help reduce maintenance and labour costs related to inspecting equipment. This would cover every aspect of the asset management life cycle, namely maintenance, equipment, inventory management and contracts covering department assets.
The CAA announced it is looking to add commercial facilities as part of BIA’s expansion plans. A group of private investors will also develop a multi-storey car park and a business and entertainment centre opposite the airport building, at a cost of approximately $60m. According to Yousif Mohammed Mahmoud, CAA’s head of corporate and public affairs, the main income for airport authorities comes from commercial facilities, which constitute approximately 60% of the overall total.
The airport’s expansion is expected to be implemented over the next three or four decades. The $350m first phase of the project, which is due to be completed in the next two to three years, is expected to add up to nine new air bridges, including for the new Airbus A380 super jumbo plane, bringing capacity up to 14m passengers a year. Future phases of this expansion will bring capacity up to 45m passengers a year, but are not envisaged until far into the future.
Expanding the kingdom’s airport is fast becoming a necessity. Passengers travelling through Bahrain International Airport rose by 20% to 7m in 2006, up from 5.7m in 2005. The unprecedented growth in passenger and cargo traffic has been fuelled by the substantial increase in Arab, regional and international flights and the establishment of new airlines.
Oxford Business Group :: Bahrain Volume 110