Water cannon salute for Gulf Air flight at Tel Aviv

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Gulf Air, the national carrier of Bahrain, has commenced its commercial service between Bahrain and Tel Aviv. Flight GF972 took off from Bahrain International Airport at 10:40 am yesterday and arrived at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport.

Officials from the Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority, the National Communications Centre, Civil Aviation Affairs, Gulf Air’s executive management and commercial passengers were on the inaugural flight.

The flight starts Gulf Air’s two weekly services between Bahrain and Israel on its newest Airbus fleet. Upon arrival at Ben Gurion Airport, Flight GF972 received a classic water cannon salute, as airport authorities, media and TAL Aviation, Gulf Air’s general sales agent in Tel Aviv, welcomed passengers.

During the arrival event at Ben Gurion Airport, Gulf Air’s Acting Chief Executive Officer, Captain Waleed AlAlawi, said: “Today we are making history by connecting the Kingdom of Bahrain and the State of Israel with scheduled commercial flights. We welcome our friends in Israel to fly on Gulf Air and visit Bahrain and fly beyond to our extended network.”

“The double weekly flights are just the start, and we will periodically assess the commer[1]cial performance to upgrade frequencies whenever feasible and required”. He added: “I thank all the authorities here in Israel for making this inaugural flight as smooth as possible and for all the assistance offered to celebrate this special flight”.

Five deals signed Back in December 2020, Gulf Air signed five commercial agreements with five different Israeli aviation-related companies; a comprehensive MoU for a potential joint codeshare and commercial cooperation with El Al, a general sales agent agreement with TAL Aviation, a line maintenance agreement with Israel Aerospace Industries Aviation Group, a ground handling agreement with QAS Israel Ltd and a deal with Newrest Israel for on-board catering.