Bahrain's state-owned carrier Gulf Air plans to shift its order book from wide-body to narrow-body planes and regional jets as it realigns its network to focus on shorter routes, its chief executive said. Gulf Air has up to 20 Boeing 787s on order, as well as 15 Airbus A320s and 20 Airbus A330s, a wide-body aircraft. CEO Samer Majali, who joined three months ago to restructure the loss-making firm, said on Monday the airline will cancel 15 routes and open 20 new ones as part of a new strategy to increase traffic in the Middle East. He declined to say how many of the Boeing planes on order Gulf Air could use under its new strategy. “We are talking with the manufacturers of the airplanes to see how we can satisfy the plan with the requirements of the contracts we have,” he told a media conference in Manama. “This is exactly what we're going to be discussing with Airbus in particular, in view of the fact that we're also going to expand our narrow-body order beyond the 15 that we already contracted for.” He also said the carrier plans to lease a number of regional jets for next year, while deciding over the next couple of months from which manufacturer to purchase jets. Manufacturers of regional jets, typically with a capacity of 100 or less, include Brazil's Embraer, Canada's Bombardier and Mitsubishi Regional Jet, partially owned by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Gulf Air also plans to sell five of its A340 aircraft as it plans to close its routes to Shanghai, Hyderabad and Bangalore. The carrier was established as a regional airline but has struggled to find its niche after previous shareholders Oman, Abu Dhabi and Qatar gave up their stakes. It expects to make an operating loss of $510 million this year. It is now squeezed in between regional low-cost airlines such as Air Arabia and Bahrain Air, and state-owned airlines of rich oil producers with large fleet expansion programs, while Bahrain cannot afford to plough funds into its state-owned companies. The Gulf Arab state's sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat plans to sell a stake of at least 25 percent in Gulf Air once the carrier becomes profit-making, its chief executive said. Bahraini investors had already expressed interest, said Talal Al Zain. Gulf Air plans to break even by 2012. Gulf Air unveiled a plan to achieve one billion dinars ($2.65 billion) in savings over five years in an aim to be profitable.
