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Gulf airline CEO quotes of yesterday heard at Routes World 2024 at Exhibition World Bahrain. "I'm sure we've all had our experiences of butting heads with airports, and that butting of heads really has been taken away," explains Gulf Air Holdings CEO Jeffrey Goh, about the benefit of having the airline and airport (Bahrain Airport Company) under the same umbrella. "The brand is Riyadh. The brand is Riyadh. The brand is Riyadh," chanted Tony Douglas, the CEO of Riyadh Air | طيران الرياض Air, the Saudi Arabian start-up hoping to begin service in 2025, hammering home (and I bet he practiced his delivery in the mirror, and it was good) the message that his airline will put the under-served capital of Saudi Arabia on the map. "We spent this year being very, very boring. We've only launched one international destination, which was DWC (Dubai World Central). For the most part, we've just been increasing frequencies on stuff we've already been operating," said Steven Greenway ستيفن غرينوي CEO of flyadeal as the carrier's new boss gets back to the basics at the Saudi low-fare carrier. There's easily another half dozen from quote-machine Tony Douglas too. Look up "sonic brand". That's a good one. The photo shows a panel, moderated by Edmond Rose, with Jeffrey Goh (left), Tony Douglas and Steven Greenway. Ian Bradley Alan Peaford, MBE Updesh Kapur Eman Marhoon

A pleasure to interview Gulf Air Holdings CEO Jeffrey Goh here in the Kingdom of Bahrain 🇧🇭 at Routes World 2024. Jeffrey heads up the airline, airport, MRO, and training academy as most aviation entities here are aligning under one banner to drive connectivity, tourism and GDP growth for Bahrain. Bahrain has 60 destinations served from the Kingdom today with a target of 100 by the end of 2026. Gulf Air is recalibrating itself said Jeffrey, adjusting its route network, focusing on connectivity and growing in a disciplined way. Eman Marhoon Ellie Wells Rachel Pickford Tony Smith Alan Peaford, MBE Luis Felipe de Oliveira Kurt Hofmann Parveen Raja Tony Harrington

International Air Transport Association (IATA)'s DG Willie Walsh has released the following statement on the Importance of Protecting Civil Aviation During Times of Conflict. The link to the full statement is below. It ended with this: "As the world works towards more peaceful days, aviation will support the effort by connecting people and goods. In the meantime, combatants must know and abide by the rules of conflict and humanitarian assistance as laid out in international law. To simplify: do no harm to civilian aircraft, airports or air navigation services. This is non-negotiable and must be respected, even at the height of hostility.” Chris Goater Katherine Kaczynska Kamil Al-Awadhi Anthony Concil Alan Peaford, MBE Chloe Greenbank Graham Dunn Lewis Harper Edward Russell Holly Miles Manal Diab https://lnkd.in/eEQT7w8Y

After a two-year hiatus, Emirates is operating once again to Lagos in Nigeria. The Dubai giant will be glad to return to what must be in the top three of its most profitable routes into Africa. The return follows a successful campaign from IATA to release a staggering $850 million in monies owed to airlines held in Nigeria that they were unable to repatriate, not all of it owed to Emirates, but enough to force it to pull out of Nigeria. At the International Air Transport Association (IATA) AGM in Dubai in June, Kamil Al-Awadhi, IATA’s Regional Vice-President for Africa and the Middle East, reported that virtually all of the funds were released. IATA began working constructively on the blocked funds issue with a newly appointed Nigerian government in May 2023, said Al-Awadhi: “This government has been extremely active and very engaged and so things started moving positively. I would like to thank them the government and all stakeholders who worked with IATA to help get this sorted out,” he said at the AGM. I suspect the forward bookings on this route are already rather strong. Katherine Kaczynska Alan Peaford, MBE Anthony Concil Abdul Teffaha Abderahmane Berthe Zaid Farah Fanny JACQUET Femke Baudoin Rula Tadros

The Autumn issue of Airline Routes & Ground Services hits the inter-web and desks just in time for Routes World, coming up this weekend in Bahrain. This issue is packed with interviews of some fresh faces to our industry making waves in their regions as well as farther afield: Selahattin Bilgen of iGA Istanbul Airport, Badr Mohammed Al-Meer of Qatar Airways, Gautam Thakkar of Unifi, Jennifer Daniel Aument of The New Terminal One at JFK, Bogi Bogason of Icelandair, and Murat Nursel of Qatar Aviation Services. Then there's Tony Harrington taking a look at the rebound of Fiji Airways since the pandemic; William Hallowell reports from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Ground Handling Council, and Elizabeth Axtelius of Swedavia Aviation Business - Route development talks about the next steps for Sweden's airports. Also don't miss some plain-talking and sound advice from our thought-leaders in this issue Arpad Szakal, ACC and Shakeel Adam, BEng, MBA, PPL talking about how to bring AI into your career path and the market outlook (hint: it's not all good), respectively. Enjoy, and see you at Routes World in Bahrain, Aviation Connect in Istanbul, Bahrain International Airshow, African Airlines Association (AFRAA) AGM in Cairo and MEBAA Show in Dubai. Humza Raja Parveen Raja Michael Miller Vicki Jaramillo Todd M. Baer Sophia Lahey James Crichton-Smith Marly Rizk, MSc Nigar Şeyda Yılmaz Ghim-Lay Yeo Carl Schultz Ellen P Laurin Swetha Sharma Jackie Reedy Habba Adijah Kamwesiga Katherine Kaczynska https://lnkd.in/eXgsFuF4

If you can't get more traffic rights what choice do you have but to "buy" your way into a market? Qatar Airways has long desired more service into Australian cities but has been rebuffed. Now it has a partner to serve Oz - Virgin Australia. Qatar Airways Group CEO Badr Al-Meer was tight-lipped about it's plans to take a 25% stake in Virgin Australia at the Farnborough International Air Show in July, but behind the scenes the lawyers were clearly hard at work doing their due diligence. The deal will give Qatar Airways a local partner to compete harder with the Qantas - Emirates hook up. And, this deal comes soon after the Doha-based Gulf giant took a 25% stake in South African carrier Airlink. Could Qatar's long-awaited stake in RwandAir Ltd be signed off this year? And where else is this acquisitive carrier looking? Tony Harrington Todd M. Baer Marly Rizk, MSc Linden Birns Alan Peaford, MBE Updesh Kapur Sophia Lahey James Crichton-Smith Yvonne Manzi Makolo Valerie Tan Will Löfberg

Qantas is joining Emirates and British Airways in operating the Airbus Aircraft A380 into Africa, demonstrating how robust traffic growth, particularly into Johannesburg is justifying the use of the double-decker to South Africa. And, demonstrating Airlink's "agnostic" approach to airline partnerships, even in light of the 25% equity investment in the carrier by Qatar Airways, the carrier is code sharing with Qantas initially on the South African airline's domestic routes. Fanny JACQUET Tony Harrington Alan Peaford, MBE Linden Birns

The aero-politics panel at Aviation AFRICA Summit & Exhibition 2024 was a big talking point at this event with panellists calling for the African Civil Aviation Commission AFCAC to be given the "teeth" to make the African Union's Single African Air Traffic Market (SAATM) happen. The creation in Africa of a single, deregulated air transport market with open competition is a dream of many liberalists keen to see this vast continent unlock its potential. But for many countries and airlines, open competition is scary, offering the real prospect of many being crushed by the bigger and richer. So, hearing Poppy Khoza, DG of SACAA, Capt. Gilbert M Kibe, Barry Kashambo, and moderator Vijay Poonoosamy offering a route forward to unlock SAATM was a breath of fresh air. Alan Peaford, MBE Mark Brown Clare B. Adefunke Adeyemi Claudette Vianello Sam Keddle Chloe Greenbank Kamil Al-Awadhi Aaron Munetsi Abderahmane Berthe Palesa Malwandla Sanjeev Gadhia Marcelle Nethersole Katherine Kaczynska Rodger Foster Linden Birns Dillon Birns Lydia-Claire Halliday James Crichton-Smith Stephan Hannemann Hussein Dabbas Fanny JACQUET Femke Baudoin Rasebotsa Lulu Poppy Khoza, DG of South Africa's Civil Aviation Authority

Once the pride of the African airline scene, South African Airways is seeking a fresh future as its country's flag carrier. CEO John Lamola laid out its revival plans in a comprehensive and passionate speech at this week's rather excellent Aviation AFRICA Summit & Exhibition, held in Johannesburg, hosted by the SACAA and organised by Times Aerospace. The headline is to reach 50 aircraft within 4-5 years. Today it operates just 16. Also look out for another take on John's speech from Christine Boynton of Aviation Week Network who spied a hint that SAA will look at COMAC airliners as it worries about delivery delays. https://lnkd.in/e9zUH64W Alan Peaford, MBE Mark Brown Clare B. Christine Boynton Marcelle Nethersole Jason Sutcliffe Linden Birns Chloe Greenbank Abderahmane Berthe Kamil Al-Awadhi Aaron Munetsi Palesa Malwandla

Aviation AFRICA Summit & Exhibition Africa 2024 has rather a brilliant ensemble of speakers. Especially looking forward to moderating the C-suite, finance and sustainability panels