Safi Airways Partners With Gulf Air to Bahrain

Afghanistan international carrier Safi Airways has confirmed it will operate in partnership with Gulf Air on its new Kabul – Bahrain route which will commence next month. The airline will offer a three times weekly service from April 23, 2012 but will also codeshare on Gulf Air’s own flights on the route, which will also be operated three times weekly.

"Safi Airways is delighted to commence flight services to Bahrain," said Lloyd Carswell, Chief Commercial Officer Safi Airways. "The Gulf is an important market for us and it offers tremendous opportunities. We are pleased to be part of the expansion and development of this key region and we are continuing in our strategy to indentify new routes."

Bahrain will be the fourth destination to be served by Safi Airways since it underwent a restructuring in 2010 after it was forced to close its European routes due to a European Union ban. It now serves New Delhi in India and the major Middle Eastern business centres of Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Safi Airways is currently the fourth largest operator from Afghanistan offering 26 weekly flights and just over 4,300 weekly seats from the country.

An estimated 11,000 O&D passengers travelled on the Kabul – Bahrain route last year after Gulf Air inaugurated the first direct services between the two cities for more than three decades in June 2011. Interestingly, even before the introduction of the direct flights there has been a growth in demand between the cities, with the main passenger flows being with low-cost operator flydubai, via Dubai, and then Air Arabia, via Sharjah.