Bahrain Air to turn profitable by 2009

Bahrain's premium low cost airline Bahrain Air will become profitable by 2009, according to the airline's managing director Ibrahim Abdulla Al Hamer.

Having achieved a load factor of 60 per cent, Bahrain Air is amongst the fastest growing airlines in the region, Al Hamer said while speaking to the media on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of Bahrain Air's Manama sales outlet.

He also said that 2008 was a year of consolidation and stabilisation for his airline, and the year 2009 would be the year of achieving break-even and profitability.

Earlier, the airline's chairman Shaikh Mohamed bin Abdulla Al Khalifa inaugurated the Manama sales office and praised the board for its efforts in making the airline one of most rapidly growing Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) carriers in its category. He said that the carrier was on target as far as fleet expansion and network enhancement goes. He said Bahrain Air would like to become the ''most efficient and competitive airline in the region."

Al Hamer said that the airline would have six planes in its fleet by October 2009, and was expecting the delivery of its third aircraft by the first week of November. He said the fourth, fifth and sixth would join the fleet in March, April and October 2009 respectively. 

The fleet of six would be comprised of two A-319s and four A-420s. The airline expand its network to cover 22 destinations in the Gulf, Middle East and Africa, and is looking at more traffic rights at various destinations across the sub-continent. Al Hamer said Bahrain Air remains cost-conscious and focused on increasing its network at the most lucrative destinations.

He added that after the fleet expansion, the airline would be able to consolidate its position and extend its network to several new destinations. It had already cross the 250,000 passenger mark within its first six months, meeting over half its annual target of 500,000 passengers. 

During the first six months Bahrain Air carried 252,000 passengers, and by end January 2009, the airline would be able to achieve the target of 600,000 passengers, he said. To fund its expansion plans, the board had doubled the airline's authorised capital from BD10 million to BD20 million.