Gulf Air Plans United States Flights… But When Will They Launch?

For several years now, Gulf Air executives have been talking about plans for the airline to resume flights to the United States. In September 2024, the company’s CEO indicated that service could start within a year. Now we’ve just seen Gulf Air receive regulatory approval for launching such service. Will this actually become a reality, though?

Gulf Air has been undergoing a transformation

Bahrain-based Gulf Air used to be the biggest and most global airline in the Gulf region. The airline was founded in 1974, when Bahrain, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, and Oman, got together to invest in existing Bahraini airline Gulf Aviation, to create a flag carrier for the four states.

Suffice it to say that the dynamics in the region have changed, and that really started with Dubai launching Emirates in 1985, chipping away at Gulf Air’s market share and dominance. Of course we then also saw Qatar launch Qatar Airways, Abu Dhabi launch Etihad, and Oman launch Oman Air.

As that happened, Gulf Air’s importance in the region continued to shrink, as it struggled to compete with peers and innovate. The airline had an outdated fleet, and didn’t have a global route network. However, the company has spent the past several years undergoing a major transformation, whereby the airline has modernized its fleet, opened a new terminal at its hub, and has focused on its core strengths.

For example, Gulf Air’s long haul fleet now consists primarily of Boeing 787-9s, featuring excellent Apex Suites in business class. The airline has 10 of these in its fleet, with a further two to be delivered.

That’s not all — the airline is also taking delivery of 16 Airbus A321neos (including some “LR” variants), and some of these feature fully flat beds in business class, which is awesome for regional flights. The airline is certainly becoming a more appealing option, though as of now the carrier only flies as far West as London, and as far East as Manila.

Gulf Air plans to resume flights to the US

For some background, in 2019, former Gulf Air CEO Kresimir Kucko stated that the airline wanted to launch flights to the United States within three years:

“We will be operating in the coming years more in Europe and also the Far East. Hopefully, in the coming two, maximum three years, we would be able to open flights to the US.”

The airline flew to New York and Houston back in the day (if I recall correctly, Gulf Air actually flew from Bahrain to New York to Houston), though that route was cut over 25 years ago. Currently the airline operates flights exclusively to Europe, Asia, and Africa.

While the pandemic probably slowed down Gulf Air’s ambitions to return to the United States, this could very well become a reality again. In September 2024, Gulf Air CEO Jeffrey Goh (for those not familiar, he’s the former CEO of Star Alliance) went on record as saying that the airline could launch flights to the United States as early as mid-2025. When discussing the carrier’s transformation and plans to fly to the United States, Goh stated:

“We are seeing the light shining through the tunnel. If all goes well, we may be looking at a mid-2025 launch, pending aircraft availability.”

Now, “pending aircraft availability” does seem like a major caveat, especially when you have only 10 long haul planes. Flying a route to the United States daily would require more than one plane, so presumably some service would need to be cut to facilitate this.

As an interesting update, the Department of Transportation (DOT) has just issued Gulf Air its foreign air carrier permit, so that it can launch flights to the United States on its own metal. That’s not to say that it’ll actually happen, but progress continues to be made.

While no final decision has been made, it seems most likely that if Gulf Air does launch flights to the United States, New York would be the obvious choice. In theory there’s also the potential for Houston to be a destination, as Bahrain’s oil minister has in the past stated that the country is looking at developing closer ties with Houston, and was looking at setting up a nonstop flight.

I’d love to see this happen, especially with Air Canada and Gulf Air having a partnership. This would be a great way to redeem miles for travel between the United States and the Middle East (and beyond).

How does Gulf Air expect to succeed in the US?

Is Gulf Air considering resuming United States flights because the airline thinks it can actually make money flying here, or is this about prestige and business ties?

Gulf Air executives have historically recognized that the airline is more of a boutique carrier, and that’s the strength the company hopes to focus on. As the previous CEO of the airline admitted:

“You can’t compete with airlines that are bigger in size, volume or with prices. You can only compete in quality. I can compete with any airline, no matter the size, with the quality of my product. That’s the battle I willingly participate with a chance to win.”

“We want to offer our passengers traditional Arabian hospitality. Which for that to really put true meaning into practice, you really need to offer something unique.”

I totally appreciate a CEO who wants to invest in the product, though he also acknowledged that his airline couldn’t compete in terms of schedule or price.

Keep in mind that pre-pandemic, a total of under two dozen passengers per day traveled between New York and Bahrain (based on published passenger data), so there isn’t sufficient demand for this route in terms of point-to-point traffic. So this would be all about connectivity, which also means the competition would be fierce.

The reality is that Gulf Air’s biggest competitors are also known for their excellent products, whether we’re talking about Emirates’ A380 business class or Qatar Airways’ Qsuites. I doubt Gulf Air is going to find that people are willing to pay a premium to fly Gulf Air over those airlines.

So adding service to the US doesn’t exactly seem like a money-making recipe. Then again, in many ways long haul economics are better than in the past, thanks to smaller, more fuel efficient planes, like the Dreamliner.

Bottom line

In 2019, Gulf Air announced plans to resume flights to the United States within a few years. I never take these kinds of announcements as a sure bet, since a lot can change.

That being said, the airline is clearly getting increasingly serious about this. Last year, Gulf Air’s no-nonsense CEO stated that the airline is still aiming to do this, and flights could launch by the middle of 2025. Now the airline has received permission from authorities to launch this service.

If Gulf Air does resume flights to the United States, it seems like it wouldn’t be done to turn a direct profit (at least realistically) but rather to improve links between the two countries.

Do you think Gulf Air will follow through with launching flights to the United States?