Gulf Air resumes flights to Sydney

Gulf Air yesterday resumed flights to Sydney after three years, officials announced. The resumption of the route also marked the start of a new service to Athens in cooperation with Olym-pic Airways.

Meanwhile, company officials announced that Gulf Air will operate its inaugural flight to Kolkata on Tuesday. The twice-weekly flights will be operated under a commercial agreement with Indian Airlines. There will a one-hour stop in Muscat.

The inaugural flight to Sydney took off from Gate 11 at Bahrain International Airport.

Operating its fleet of Airbus A340-300s out of Bahrain, Gulf Air will offer a three-class code share service with Olympic Airways on flights to the Australian city via Singapore, providing the shortest elapsed time on flights to and from Australia. Flights to Singapore will increase from the present three times a week to daily.

Simultaneously with the commencement of flights to Australia, Gulf Air will start non-stop daily services between Athens and Bahrain on Airbus A320s to give passengers from Greece a brief connection of just over an hour for the Sydney flight.

The schedule offers passengers from the Gulf and Mediterranean countries the shortest flights to and from Australia, and provides excellent connections to Amman, Beirut, Damascus, Cairo, Larnaca, Tehran, Istanbul and all the Gulf destinations.

"There is enormous potential for growth in trade and tourism between Australia and the Gulf," said James Hogan, Gulf Air's president and chief executive. "By providing stable air links, Gulf Air will play a vital role in facilitating and supporting this process."

Yesterday's flight also saw the introduction of Gulf Air's Sky Nanny. Trained by Norland College, the sky nannies will provide specialised care for children up to the age of 12.