It's green for Goh

Jeffrey Goh, the Gulf Air Group CEO, is finally ready to go public with his plans. It is two years since he was appointed to the post leading the Kingdom’s unified air transport assets, and 10 months since he added the responsibility of leading Gulf Air, the group’s airline, to his role.

“Typically, in my first year at any organisation I don’t take the public stage. We need to get our house in order and then we have a story to tell,” explained Goh, who arrived to lead Gulf Air Group from 16 years at the Star Alliance, the final six as its CEO.

Goh landed at Gulf Air at a critical time in its history as the Middle East’s first commercial carrier prepares to celebrate its 75^th anniversary in 2025.

From its glory days in the 1970s and 1980s, Gulf Air has struggled for over a decade to find a profitable and sustainable niche in an increasingly competitive region. CEOs have come and gone regularly, as have a parade of restructuring plans. None has worked.

The Bahraini Government is determined that this time it can discover a successful strategy so the state’s aviation assets can deliver on its Economic Vision 2030, which includes promoting the Kingdom’s tourism and its role as an important regional trading and logistics hub.

The first step was taken in October 2022 when His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the crown prince and prime minister of Bahrain, decided to put all the country’s aviation assets under one roof for the first time.

This saw Gulf Air, Bahrain Airport Company, and affiliates including the Gulf Aviation Academy and its MRO business come under the same management. The Gulf Air Group was established and more businesses will be added in time.

“I think it's a unique structure,” said Goh, speaking in an interview at Routes World 2024, the airline-airport networking event that was hosted by Bahrain in October.

“We know in this industry how often the airlines and airports don't see eye to eye, but being together has allowed us to explore more seamless opportunities, whether the minimum connecting time or transfer processes,” he outlined. This is important as transit traffic makes up about 70 per cent of Gulf Air’s business and the airline represents around 70 per cent of Bahrain International Airport’s operations.

Asked how far apart Gulf Air and Bahrain Airport were, Goh chose his words carefully. “As divergent as you can expect between an airline and an airport, from disputes on car parking to charges. It’s early days but we are on a good trajectory,” he noted.

Having a single leader makes the group better placed as it drives towards two key missions, said Goh. “One is to become a positive contributor to the GDP of the kingdom, and the other is to increase the international brand of Bahrain and Gulf Air.”

Talking about a desire to align is one thing, making it happen is another. Goh is drawing on the stakeholder management skills he honed at Star where he became adept at corralling the wishes of 26 airlines.

With Gulf Air representing about 75 per cent of the group’s revenues, deciding on a strategy for the airline has been paramount. “We spent a lot of time navel-gazing, and we have come up with two very clear strategic pillars for the airline. One is about connectivity and the other is about customer service excellence,” said Goh, with examples of the latter being free Wi-Fi on board and the ability to order meals 24 hours in advance of a long-haul flight.

“There is no breaking science here, but it is how you execute [that matters],” he added. “We want a calibrated and disciplined ambition in terms of our growth.

“There is a slice of the pie for us to have,” said Goh, referring to forecast growth in the Middle East region and whether a country of Bahrain’s size should have a flag carrier at all.

Today Gulf Air serves 60 destinations and will add a quarter more over the coming five years. Recent additions include Shanghai and Guangzhou, Munich and Baghdad.

However, Gulf Air’s network “recalibration” means “there are markets where we will withdraw because they no longer make sense,” said Goh.

Subject to aircraft availability, Goh is bringing in a more rational structure to its long-haul network. “You will see in five years a very different network proposition [from Gulf Air],” he said.

“A key project that we’ve been working on for a while, together with all the relevant stakeholders – the Tourism Authority and the Ministry of Transportation – is to build connectivity between Bahrain and the rest of the world, and that is the primary focus of the group, particularly between the airline and the airport,” said Goh.

This sees Gulf Air developing its network, plus the country inviting all other airlines to serve Bahrain, which has an Open Skies air services policy.

One of the airline’s targets is to resume service to the USA, with approval for this being sought from the US authorities for a potential start in 2025.