Sahar’s flying high

THE woman holding the purse strings ensuring the national carrier meets its financial destination is confident that Gulf Air is on course for success after years of turbulence.

Bahraini Sahar Ataei’s impressive achievements so far in her role as acting chief financial officer (ACFO) have helped the airline reduce its losses by more than 50 per cent as a result of a major restructuring strategy.

She said: “The savings made by Gulf Air help strengthen the airline’s position as a key national infrastructure asset supporting the kingdom’s evolving business needs and ultimately allowing treasury resources to be used for other alternatives.

“This is all part of a greater movement towards supporting the economy of Bahrain by reducing our costs and attracting business into the kingdom.”

The restructuring plan involves cutting jobs, reducing the airline’s fleet and network. It is expected to achieve cost savings of 24 per cent by the end of the year and reduce the airline’s losses from BD95 million to BD58 million by 2017.

The project to put Gulf Air, owned by Mumtalakat Holding Company, on a path towards sustainability was announced at the start of 2013. A key component of this plan was to strengthen the airline’s Middle East and North Africa (MENA) operations while maintaining strategic links to select points in Europe and Asia.

Ms Ataei said: “The airline’s main focus is on continuing to strengthen its existing network; one of the largest in the Middle East.

“We recently increased flights to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia from double to triple daily. However, in aviation the landscape is constantly changing and, in such an environment, we are continually evaluating our network as well as potential new opportunities for commercial viability.

“The airline’s fleet was subsequently realigned to match the requirements of the new network, with an emphasis on new aircraft with high specification products.

“Today, Gulf Air operates an all-Airbus mixed fleet consisting of 26 aircraft. With an average aircraft age of 4.9 years Gulf Air operates one of the youngest fleets in the region,” she said.

The airline’s business strategy is now to focus on improving its products and services both in the air and on the ground to meet passengers’ evolving travel needs.

Ms Ataei added: “We are already working on improving our in-flight offering across the network and have committed to the retrofit of four A330 aircraft used primarily on the London and Bangkok routes to introduce fully-flatbed seats in Falcon Gold class, revamp economy class and upgrade the in-flight entertainment system. This is expected to be completed before the end of summer 2014.”

An accounting graduate, Ms Ataei earned her Executive MBA degree from the University of Bahrain with a distinction for which she was honoured by His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa.

She said: “This was a great honour for me and has motivated me throughout my career. I strive to excel and to produce the best standard of work possible. Being recognised for my efforts (whether in work or academia) fuels my determination and motivation further!”

Despite her phenomenal achievements thus far, the University of Bahrain graduate has remained humble and credits the success of the new strategy to teamwork within the company.

Ms Ataei added: “The airline’s board of directors, led by its chairman, Shaikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, its executive restructuring committee which is currently led by Kamal bin Ahmed Mohammed, Minister of Transport, and the executive management team led by Maher Salman Al Musallam are fully aligned toward achieving the goals of the restructuring strategy. This level of alignment has been a key driver in realising the impressive results to-date.”

The old adage that one person’s loss is another’s gain can also be considered a contributing factor to Gulf Air’s rekindled success.

Despite Gulf Air’s ongoing restructuring requiring a reduction in the workforce, Ms Ataei says the airline remains committed to developing a national workforce of aviation professionals and filling as many positions in Bahrain with skilled and qualified nationals. Under the terms of this mandate the decision was taken to recruit the 12 pilots affected by the closure of Bahrain Air.

“As Bahrain’s national carrier, Gulf Air is committed to increasing Bahrainisation levels across all areas of the organisation and developing a new generation of Bahraini aviation professionals,” Ms Ataei said.

“With 63 per cent of Gulf Air’s total workforce being Bahraini the airline has the highest nationalisation levels amongst its regional competitors. This is a significant achievement and something I am very proud of.

“Achieving 100 per cent Bahrainisation in the financial accounting and revenue department was a significant achievement for me personally and for Gulf Air.

“From a personal perspective, I firmly believe that you need to invest in people to enable them to realise their full potential. In my capacity as ACFO I am committed to ensuring that continual learning and development, through both on-the-job and formal training, is integrated across the finance division.”

Working in a male-dominated environment has had little effect on Ms Ataei, who says that being a hard-working person is the key to her success, not gender.

She said: “At first I felt slightly isolated, but working towards a goal that I believe in made it easier to handle and pushed me to overcome whatever challenges came my way. I feel highly respected amongst my colleagues and have their full support. I am proud of my femininity and do not try to adopt any male characteristics to compete or prove myself.

“My experience of working in Bahrain, and for Gulf Air specifically, is that promotions and workplace recognition etc. are not gender-based but performance-based. I am often faced with male-dominated boardrooms but have never felt discriminated against for being a woman.”

However, balancing a hectic professional life and a personal life can be a challenge given the 24-hour nature of the airline business.

“I believe that to be successful in life you need to achieve a healthy personal and professional balance. I work hard to maintain this balance.

“In my spare time I enjoy reading to stay abreast of global developments especially in relation to business and finance. I’m also an avid movie-goer. Working for Gulf Air also gives me the opportunity to travel extensively – a passion I have had for as long as I can remember.”

Ms Ataei joined Gulf Air in 1998 as an audit manager where she developed a system of internal controls that proved to be extremely beneficial for investigations and fraud detection within the company.

A qualified finance professional with over 13 years experience in the commercial airline business, she has demonstrated her strong technical skills and her ability to influence, negotiate and the credibility to build strong cross-functional relationships that has seen her grow through the ranks.

Only time will tell if the airline’s restructuring plan will achieve the desired results, but Ms Ataei is confident about the future.

She said: “Gulf Air has had to weather the storm of global economic pressure, which no airline has been exempt from, increasing competition and regional political instability in a number of destinations on its network. This resulted in reduced passenger numbers and negatively affected the airline.

“Despite this, there has never been any debate on the future of the airline. The Government of Bahrain have been clear; Gulf Air is a key national infrastructure asset supporting the economy of the Kingdom of Bahrain and its people.”