Gulf Air, the national carrier of Bahrain, has recently announced its return to New York JFK airport. The airline will use Terminal 1 and has been given just two and a half months to promote and sell its new route. This short time frame may prove challenging, but their long-term codeshare agreement with American Airlines via London Heathrow will give them better visibility in the market.
Gulf Air previously operated flights to New York until 1997, with services from Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, and Doha. The airline was historically the flag carrier of the UAE, Qatar, and Oman, and some JFK flights were extended to Houston, leading to increased costs and losses.
The Route
The new flight from Bahrain to New York JFK will take approximately 13 hours and 55 minutes and cover a distance of 5,747 nautical miles (10,643 km) each way. This is by far Gulf Air’s longest service, both in terms of time and distance. It launched a few months after Etihad Airways launched its new longest route from Abu Dhabi to Atlanta, and on the same day that British Airways announced its next US link, from London Heathrow to St. Louis.
Gulf Air’s CEO, Jeffrey Goh, has expressed the airline’s desire to return to the US on several occasions. However, he has also emphasized the importance of returning to profitability before launching new routes. In 2024, Goh stated that Gulf Air would likely resume US flights in 2025, coinciding with the airline’s 75th anniversary. As predicted, the first round-trip flight was aboard a Boeing 787-9 adorned in the airline’s 75th-anniversary livery.
Flight Schedule
The Bahrain to JFK route will operate on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, with departures at 04:00 local time and arrivals at 10:55. The return flight from JFK to Bahrain will depart at 15:00 and arrive at 10:35 the next day. The schedule is not particularly conducive to competitive waits in Bahrain, with only a few cities connecting within four to five hours in each direction. This may lead to lower fares and lower-yielding connecting passengers.
Competition
Gulf Air is the ninth Middle Eastern passenger airline to serve JFK, alongside Arkia, El Al, Emirates, Etihad, Kuwait Airways, Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian, and Saudia. These airlines collectively operate between 10 and 17 daily departures from JFK, making it the US’s top airport for widebody flights and the world’s second-busiest airport for long-haul services.
On October 9, there will be 17 departures from JFK, with Gulf Air not operating on that day. The departures will be to various destinations, including Tel Aviv, Doha, Riyadh, Dubai, Kuwait, Amman, and Abu Dhabi.