JEDDAH, 13 December 2003 — Gulf Air has started operating its flights from Bahrain to Calcutta, capital of the eastern Indian state of West Bengal. Flights being operated under a commercial agreement with Indian Airlines are scheduled on Tuesdays and Fridays. This brings the number of destinations served by the airline in India to seven. The airline already operates frequent flights to Bombay, Delhi, Cochin, Madras, Trivandrum and, most recently, Bangalore. “Our new service to Calcutta offers new opportunities to consolidate and complement the historic ties and the strong relationship between Gulf Air’s owning states — Bahrain, Oman and the UAE — and India, and has tremendous potential to strengthen and support commercial partnerships and development,” said Fareed Al Alawi, vice president Network at Gulf Air. The network of the airline, which is in the first year of a three-year strategic recovery program headed by president and chief executive James Hogan, stretches form Europe to Asia and covers 45 cities in 33 countries.