Gulf Air CEO: CS100 orders canceled; studying alliance options

Following reports on several European aviation spotters’ websites that the Bahraini national carrier had dropped its longstanding order for the Canadian aircraft, the newly-inaugurated Airbus-Bombardier CSeries Aircraft Limited Partnership (CSALP) issued a brief statement July 6 that it still had a contract in place with the airline.

In a response from an email, however, Gulf Air CEO Krešimir Kučko responded July 7 that the “CSeries order has been recently resolved with Bombardier after numerous discussions over the past period of time in mutual agreement, according to which Gulf Air will not proceed further with the delivery of any aircraft.”

The order had been in doubt since 2016, when the airline’s then-acting CEO said that he was looking at whether the CS100 still had a place in the airline’s future plans. The airline has been silent since.

Airbus completed a transaction July 1 for majority control of the CSeries program and owns a 50.01% stake in CSALP.

Kučko also confirmed reports that Gulf Air is considering joining one of the three main airline alliances. This follows the announcement earlier this year of Gulf Air’s long-term expansion plans and the start of a significant growth spurt in its fleet.

“As a strategic goal, Gulf Air is indeed considering approaching one of the three global airline alliances,” Kučko said. However, no decision would be taken until a study on the matter had been completed, he added.

(Alan Dron ATWOnline News)