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National carrier Gulf Air has increased the number of flights, seats and schedule options for key destinations as well as adding three new services this summer.
The airline's summer schedule revealed the addition of three new destinations - Kabul, Copenhagen and Nairobi, as well as adding 1,700 seats per week for existing flights.
"Summer has always been a very busy season with schools closed for vacation and people travelling abroad to spend their holidays visiting friends, family or simply to escape the heat, so we have always seen a tremendous rush for tickets at this time," said Gulf Air chief commercial officer Karim Makhlouf.
"Many of our destinations are very popular with our customers such as Bangkok, Colombo, Istanbul, Kathmandu and Manila, which are already witnessing over 80 per cent bookings, and come summer, the demand will be even higher. So, we have made sure to meet the rush by increasing frequencies and operating bigger aircraft.
"In addition, we have also introduced split schedules on some routes, giving flexible options for our customers to choose their arrival and departure times.
"The split schedule also offers better onward connectivity options for those travelling to other destinations via the Kingdom of Bahrain."
The airline believes that with its younger fleet (with an average age of just 6.3 years) sporting a modern inflight entertainment system including the portable media players in its Falcon Gold class, revamped menu onboard on most flights and improved fleet punctuality, passengers will enjoy a 'memorable travel experience' this summer.
"Last but not the least, in recent times we have earned very good customer satisfaction assessment from passengers, who have rated our cabin crew as 'excellent' for the second consecutive year.
"Passengers also gave us a six per cent higher ranking than last year for overall travel experience in an independent survey. With the onset of the summer season, we are determined to continue to add value to our service and strive for greater customer satisfaction," added Mr Makhlouf.
The new summer schedule will see flights to Manila, increased from 10 to 12 times per week using an A330 with a capacity increase of 20 per cent from May 11.
From May 15, service to Istanbul will be increased from four to five times per week with an A320 aircraft adding a 153 per cent capacity increase.
Flights to Colombo will also be increased from seven to eight flights per week with a 14 per cent added capacity from May 17, while frequencies to Kathmandu increased from 11 to 12 times per week from May 21.
Effective from June 5, frequencies to Larnaca will also be increased from five to six per week with a weekly capacity increase of 20 per cent, while Bangkok will see its frequencies increased from seven to nine per week from June 1.
Gulf Air also announced that its flights to Milan will be increased from four to six per week, offering 117 per cent more seats per week for passengers.
In addition, this summer, Gulf Air will be launching services to three new destinations - Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan from June 15, Copenhagen - its first service to Scandinavia - from July 1 and Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, from July 5.
