p16 pink jan16 14/1/09 16:50 Page 16
City & finance
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Stable capacity
Gulf Air aims to be
aids cruise lines
profitable by 2011
THE LACK of capacity
growth in the cruise in-
dustry this year will help
Chris Gray.
the next 15 years, three percentage points more
the industry ride out the BAHRAINIAN-carrier Gulf Air is aiming to break than for the rest of the world, he said.
downturn without having even by 2011, when its new management team Gulf Air is well positioned to benefit from this
to cut prices too far. will have been in place three years. growth. As a hub airline, 75% of its traffic comes
Carnival UK chief Chief executive Bjorn Naf (pictured) said three from connecting passengers.
executive David Dingle years should be sufficient time for he and his It suffered last year because it had no fuel
(pictured) said the cruise team to turn the carrier’s fortunes around and hedging, when the price soared to $140 a barrel,
line’s financial model was for ships to sail full. be back in the black. but it is now hedging at a favourable rate.
Speaking to TTG as he addressed an E-tid State-owned Gulf Air lost more than $1 million Gulf Air has lost market share to regional
breakfast briefing on Wednesday, Dingle said a day in 2007, laid off about 1,500 people and rivals such as Emirates, Etihad and Qatar.
volumes were holding up but that the operator dropped routes to try to stem the losses. Naf said among the carrier’s initiatives to fight
had had to do more price promotions, which was Speaking at a media briefing in London, Swiss- back was its “10/30/15” pledge to passengers.
“putting a lot of pressure on yields”. born Naf said December had been “rough” This is its promise to get premium passengers
Carnival Corporation warned in a trading and he expected the same conditions from car park to aircraft at Heathrow in 10
statement on December 18 that yields globally to continue for the first half of 2009. minutes, have a 30-minute connection time
in 2009 were likely to be down by between 11% But he claimed changes being in Bahrain, and 15 minutes from aircraft to
and 15% this year on 2008 due to currency introduced this year would help car park at their destination.
fluctuations, the worsening economic outlook Gulf Air become profitable once the The carrier will also rebrand later this
and fuel surcharge refunds. downturn had run its course. year when it opens a new lounge at
“We have sensed a pick-up, but it is very early Air traffic in the Middle East was Heathrow, introduces new aircraft and
days,” said Dingle of trading in January so far. expected to grow at menus, and increases fre-
“We can’t understand the winter booking period about 8% a year for quencies on connections to
until about the end of February. Cruise ships nor- key destinations.
mally cruise full; that’s an essential part of the
cruise business model, so the ships will sail full.
“But, importantly, there is no meaningful
capacity increase in 2009 for the UK market.
“Nobody can say how long this recessionary
period is going to last, so to speculate when
prices might firm up is difficult.”
■ Cruise news, p22
Lowcost completes Resorthoppa deal
LOWCOSTTRAVELGROUP has completed the increase in activity at Resorthoppa. today, the Lowcost group is now in a
purchase of transfer company Resorthoppa for “The completion of this merger will very exciting position to consolidate
an undisclosed sum. enable us to build a strong, integrated its position as one of the leading
Resorthoppa transfers will now be available group offering a one-stop shop to suppliers of independent holiday
through Lowcostbedsagents.com, which will enable the trade to create their own, components to the travel trade.
offer combined prices for transfers and beds. great value, dynamic packages.” “Customers and agents are de-
Resorthoppa chairman Michael East, who will Lowcostbeds chief executive Paul manding access to holiday components
remain in his role, said: “Despite the difficult Evans (pictured) said: “With our ability to bun- from a single source and those operators that
trading conditions, we are seeing a significant dle transfers with our great value bed-stock from offer single product will become vulnerable.”
16 16.01.2009
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