The inaugural flight marking the commencement of Gulf Air’s operations to Kochi with Air India took off from Bahrain on Monday, 14 July, 2003. “This marks the beginning of a new collaboration,” said John Butler, vice president of Marketing and Sales at Gulf Air.
“This venture offers new opportunities to consolidate and complement the historic ties and the strong relationship between Gulf Air’s owning states and India. The regular flights will enable us to serve the large Keralite community based in the region more effectively,” he said.
“It is evident that this step is in sync with the needs of our customers. We have already experienced overwhelming demand for the first flights, and reservations for the coming months are extremely positive. We hope to extend the service soon to operate five flights a week.”
Gulf Air will operate the service from Bahrain through Abu Dhabi to Kochi on its newly configured two-class Airbus A320 with flights departing as GF270 from Bahrain at 21.45 on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays to arrive in Kochi at 06.00 after a brief transit in Abu Dhabi of 40 minutes.
Flights will depart Kochi on GF271 every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at 07.00 local time arriving in Abu Dhabi at 09.25, where the transit time is just 45 minutes. GF271 arrives in Bahrain at 10.15.
“Kerala also features highly on the destination list of the modern day leisure traveler,” added John Butler. “It is now readily accessible via the regular four times a week flights between the Gulf and Kochi, the state’s most modern airport.” — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
