Gulf Air Bahrain

History

Gulf Air traces its roots to Gulf Aviation Company, founded on 24 March 1950 and gradually built into the joint flag carrier of Bahrain, Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Oman from 1974. Qatar withdrew its stake in 2002 to launch Qatar Airways, and Abu Dhabi withdrew in 2006 to launch Etihad Airways, leaving Gulf Air's ownership structure to consolidate around Bahrain, which became the airline's sole owner in 2007. Since then it has operated as Bahrain's national carrier, later placed under the state's Mumtalakat sovereign wealth fund via Gulf Air Group Holding Company, and has pursued a fleet-renewal program bringing in Airbus A320/A321neo family jets and Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners from the mid-2010s onward.

Current Operations

Gulf Air operates as the flag carrier of Bahrain from its main base at Bahrain International Airport, serving destinations across the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe with a fleet mixing A320-family narrowbodies (including A320neo/A321neo/A321LR variants) and Boeing 787-9 widebodies. It is wholly owned by the Bahraini state through Gulf Air Group Holding Company and Mumtalakat, and while it is not a member of any of the three major global alliances, it maintains an extensive network of bilateral codeshare agreements with carriers such as Qatar Airways, Etihad, Emirates, KLM and Turkish Airlines. The airline runs the Falconflyer frequent-flyer program and continues a multi-year fleet-modernization push with further Airbus and Boeing deliveries on order.

Last verified 2026-09-02· Source: airline public disclosures, company press releases & aviation-industry reporting.

Serves These Profiled Airports23

Sample Routes8