V L Srinivasan
Manama (Bahrain) Jan 27
The past three years were critical for businesses around the world over, and airline industry was no exception.
The Kingdom’s first private airliner Bahrain Air, which was launched in 2008, weathered all such crises including the global recession, epidemics like swine flu and price war in the skies.
Some of the airline’s future plans include adding three new destinations, replacing two ageing aircraft and also going for an initial public offer by 2013.
On the eve of Bahrain Air’s third anniversary, its Managing Director Captain Ibrahim Al Hamer described the last three years as “challenging” as the company was a new entrant and had to tackle established operators head-on.
Though many countries are yet to recover fully from the impact of the global recession, Captain Alhamer said he is confident that the airline will continue its success journey and his confidence stems from the fact that Bahrain Air has earned a niche for itself and is recognised as one of the most efficient private operators in the region in such a short span of time.
In an exclusive interview with DT, he explained future plans, the ongoing price war and steps needed for the survival of the industry.
“Ever since we commenced our operations by launching the inaugural flight from Bahrain to Dubai in 2008, we have increased our traffic and number of destinations. At the same time, we had all problems like spiraling fuel prices and global recession which not only affected the GCC but the entire Middle East,” he recalled.
Sharing the secret behind his company’s success, he said that Bahrainis were proud because the airline carries the Kingdom’s name all over.
“It comes with lot of responsibilities and we tried to reflect the good nature of Bahrainis, their efficiency, integrity and hospitality and Bahrain Air succeeded in the process,” he said.
He said that the company has been quite successful and the performance was “extraordinarily” high. “I can say 98 per cent of the services were excellent, known for punctuality with friendly crew and the operation has been quite efficient,” he said.
He said the airline was flying to 19 destinations at present and would launch a new service to Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt on March 3 for which a campaign would be launched next week. Plans are underway to add three more destinations this year and the details will be announced later.
With regard to fleet strength, the airline has five A-320s as of today and would replace one of them with another A-320 on February 17.
Though the number of destinations will go up this year, the fleet strength would remain the same with higher utilisation as all of them are brand new and very reliable.
At present, Bahrain Air is operating its flights to Asia, Africa and Middle East regions. “We are quite open to any opportunity and do not rule out operating our services to Europe and the Far East. But as a private company, we are very careful in doing the right things at the right time. Moreover, it all depends on the market conditions and many other aspects like profitability and returns on investment,” he said.
The company hopes to achieve break even next year and start earning profits in 2013. “This is our target and we have scheduled our business model towards the same. Even the fleet strength would be increased from five to seven by that time,” he said.
On the product side, he said that all business class seats will be upgraded into full-fledged business class seats and will complete the process by middle of March just before the summer schedule. “We will also introduce frequent flyer programme by that time,” he said.
The company is also working to modify the current reservation system and make it more passenger and ticketing agent-friendly in the near future. The new system will be unique in the sense it will have greater flexibility not only for the customers, who can book through website, but also to the travel agents by way of decentralisation.
“This is the way we do our business and we are confident that it will be a big relief to the passengers, of course with proper control,” he averred.
On the aviation sector in Middle East, he said that it was already saturated with “lots of growth” and has more supply than demand.
Governments own most airlines and there are very few companies like Bahrain Air in the private sector.
“At times we feel that the private airlines in the region are not given equal opportunities in terms of traffic rights and other support. But this is the reality we have to live with to stay afloat in the business,” he said.
As far as price war in the skies is concerned, Capt Alhamer, who is a staunch believer in the policy of “live and let live,” said that all airlines were targeting the same passenger and hence there is more competition between the airlines. The low cost airlines were charging more at times while the premium airlines were offering fares at much lower price than those by the low cost airlines.
“The market is saturated and by reducing the prices, the airlines cannot even cover their operation costs including fuel charges. Even if the passengers are offered free seats, there will be no takers in the future,” he warned.
The operators should come to an understanding, as they simply cannot go on reducing the fares for no justification, he added.
Manama (Bahrain) Jan 27
The past three years were critical for businesses around the world over, and airline industry was no exception.
The Kingdom’s first private airliner Bahrain Air, which was launched in 2008, weathered all such crises including the global recession, epidemics like swine flu and price war in the skies.
Some of the airline’s future plans include adding three new destinations, replacing two ageing aircraft and also going for an initial public offer by 2013.
On the eve of Bahrain Air’s third anniversary, its Managing Director Captain Ibrahim Al Hamer described the last three years as “challenging” as the company was a new entrant and had to tackle established operators head-on.
Though many countries are yet to recover fully from the impact of the global recession, Captain Alhamer said he is confident that the airline will continue its success journey and his confidence stems from the fact that Bahrain Air has earned a niche for itself and is recognised as one of the most efficient private operators in the region in such a short span of time.
In an exclusive interview with DT, he explained future plans, the ongoing price war and steps needed for the survival of the industry.
“Ever since we commenced our operations by launching the inaugural flight from Bahrain to Dubai in 2008, we have increased our traffic and number of destinations. At the same time, we had all problems like spiraling fuel prices and global recession which not only affected the GCC but the entire Middle East,” he recalled.
Sharing the secret behind his company’s success, he said that Bahrainis were proud because the airline carries the Kingdom’s name all over.
“It comes with lot of responsibilities and we tried to reflect the good nature of Bahrainis, their efficiency, integrity and hospitality and Bahrain Air succeeded in the process,” he said.
He said that the company has been quite successful and the performance was “extraordinarily” high. “I can say 98 per cent of the services were excellent, known for punctuality with friendly crew and the operation has been quite efficient,” he said.
He said the airline was flying to 19 destinations at present and would launch a new service to Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt on March 3 for which a campaign would be launched next week. Plans are underway to add three more destinations this year and the details will be announced later.
With regard to fleet strength, the airline has five A-320s as of today and would replace one of them with another A-320 on February 17.
Though the number of destinations will go up this year, the fleet strength would remain the same with higher utilisation as all of them are brand new and very reliable.
At present, Bahrain Air is operating its flights to Asia, Africa and Middle East regions. “We are quite open to any opportunity and do not rule out operating our services to Europe and the Far East. But as a private company, we are very careful in doing the right things at the right time. Moreover, it all depends on the market conditions and many other aspects like profitability and returns on investment,” he said.
The company hopes to achieve break even next year and start earning profits in 2013. “This is our target and we have scheduled our business model towards the same. Even the fleet strength would be increased from five to seven by that time,” he said.
On the product side, he said that all business class seats will be upgraded into full-fledged business class seats and will complete the process by middle of March just before the summer schedule. “We will also introduce frequent flyer programme by that time,” he said.
The company is also working to modify the current reservation system and make it more passenger and ticketing agent-friendly in the near future. The new system will be unique in the sense it will have greater flexibility not only for the customers, who can book through website, but also to the travel agents by way of decentralisation.
“This is the way we do our business and we are confident that it will be a big relief to the passengers, of course with proper control,” he averred.
On the aviation sector in Middle East, he said that it was already saturated with “lots of growth” and has more supply than demand.
Governments own most airlines and there are very few companies like Bahrain Air in the private sector.
“At times we feel that the private airlines in the region are not given equal opportunities in terms of traffic rights and other support. But this is the reality we have to live with to stay afloat in the business,” he said.
As far as price war in the skies is concerned, Capt Alhamer, who is a staunch believer in the policy of “live and let live,” said that all airlines were targeting the same passenger and hence there is more competition between the airlines. The low cost airlines were charging more at times while the premium airlines were offering fares at much lower price than those by the low cost airlines.
“The market is saturated and by reducing the prices, the airlines cannot even cover their operation costs including fuel charges. Even if the passengers are offered free seats, there will be no takers in the future,” he warned.
The operators should come to an understanding, as they simply cannot go on reducing the fares for no justification, he added.
No comments:
Post a Comment