GULF Air CEO, Samer Majali was awarded the prestigious title of Aviation CEO of the Year at the annual CEO Middle East Awards held in Dubai recently.
The awards recognise industry leaders, entrepreneurs and innovators for their outstanding achievements and contributions in their specialist areas and more than 240 attendees from the leading business community, their companies, senior government officials and special industry guests attended the event held at the Armani Hotel in Dubai.
Majali commented: “This year has been challenging for the aviation industry and Gulf Air, harsh economic realities forced a comprehensive review of the airline. Tough decisions had to be made across the company leading to some radical changes to ensure its long-term sustainability. This has yielded positive results and I am very proud of our achievements.
“In the past 13 months alone we have taken delivery of 12 new aircraft, launched 11 new destinations and are all set to launch five more destinations before end of the year, reinforcing our position as the airline with the region’s most extensive network.
“We have also started to see commercial results, our seat factor has improved over six per cent compared to last year, passenger revenue (RASK) has seen an increase of almost four per cent, total passenger yield has grown 5.5 per cent and expenses have decreased by three per cent. The on-time punctuality of our flights has also shown a significant improvement of eight per cent compared to the same period last year.”
And thanking the airline’s staff, board and customers, he concluded: “This award is yet another testament to the progress of the airline and the commitment of its employees. The achievement is made more poignant this year as Gulf Air celebrates its 60th Anniversary. ”