This guest article is written by Oussama Salah, who is an aviation expert based in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Being a Jordanian who flies around the region a lot and works in the sector, he shares his thoughts how the proposed sale of two Gulf carriers may or may note be a good idea.
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In the last week two governments in the Middle East have declared their desire to sell their national carriers within a relatively short period, about one year. Well it ain’t gonna happen.
Gulf Air goes on sale
Twenty days after Mumtalakat (the investment arm of the Kingdom of Bahrain) returned the ownership of Gulf Air to the government, citing that an airline is a strategic asset that will yield very little return. The government on 25 February 2010 announced its intention to privatize the airline within one year. Well, I don’t think it will happen. Although Bahrain Air is not a major threat, carriers in the region are. Gulf Air has a few advantages:

It has a restructuring plan and a vision of where it is heading
It has a fleet renewal plan which is in progress
It has several code sharing agreements within the …

As promised at the start of the year, SimpliFlying will be bringing you more Guest Columns from leading aviation practitioners around the world. Our first guest article of the year is written by Oussama Salah, who is an aviation expert based in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Being a Jordanian who flies around the region a lot and works in the sector, he shares with us his predictions for Middle East carriers in 2010. —– The MENA region airlines bucked the global trend in 2009. It was the only region that had an increase in traffic and had the loss forecast dropped by 50% to half a billion. The region saw an increase in flights and in destinations. 2010 promises to be an exciting year for the region. Airlines in all segments are competing for a leading position. Emirates facing the crunch? Emirates remain the leader of the pack, with a brand that, by far has no rival not only in the region but globally. So far Emirates has shown a financial ability to finance its expansion without burdening Dubai. The problem Emirates might face is …