Gulf Air due for another revamp

Gulf Air has had several years of losses and will now undergo another round of restructuring.

Gulf Air will undergo another round of restructuring this summer to try to revive the carrier after several years of losses. Mumtalakat Holdings, a Bahrain sovereign wealth fund, said it was seeking advisers to help it rebuild the Manama-based airline, which has been in and out of recovery campaigns for much of the past decade. The consultants will report to the airline's incoming chief executive Samer Majali, who is taking up his post on Aug 1, and "who has been appointed to lead Gulf Air as it moves into the next phase of its strategy to rebuild the business", Mumtalakat said in a statement.

Mr Majali replaced Bjorn Naf who left the company this month after serving as chief executive for more than two years. Mr Naf had promised to help the airline return to profitability next year. Mr Naf joined shortly after Andrew Dose, who served as chief executive briefly in 2006, said the airline was losing US$1 million (Dh3.67m) a day. According to media reports, Gulf Air has approached several asset management and specialist aviation consultancies, including Lek Consulting, Simat, Helliesen and Eichner, AT Kearney, Lazard, Seabury and Cesari Consulting.