STUNNED Gulf Air stewardesses fear for their future following the announcement that the airline will shed around 1,500 of its 6,000 staff.

The job losses, which are part of a major restructuring plan dubbed the “Get Well” programme, sent shockwaves throughout the company.
Juliana Craig, 28, a stewardess from New Zealand, who has been with Gulf Air for three years, said: “We knew there were a lot of changes since (the last president) James Hogan left but we didn’t realise how drastic the changes would be.
“We have no real indication of who, or how, they’re going to cut out the jobs. Everyone’s concerned about their future … whether they’ve got a future here at all?
“They announced it publicly before anyone had spoken to us about it. There’s been no meeting; we’ve been kept in the dark until now about what the procedure is going to be.
 “I think it’s a case of new people at the top trying to do the best for the company but they’ve forgotten about us at the bottom of the food chain. I’ve feel they’ve neglected to look at our position.”
Speaking at a press conference at the airline’s Muharraq headquarters last week, new president and chief executive of Gulf Air, André Dosé announced that “everything, including jobs will have to go down by roughly 25 per cent. Jobs will be lost in line with our fleet restructuring.”
Deputy chairman Mahmood Al Kooheji added: “The majority of the job losses will be cabin crew, most of whom are not Bahrainis.”
Mr Al Kooheeji said the company would try to ease the social impact of the redundancies on Bahrain. Natural attrition and early retirement will account for many of the job losses. But most of the job cuts will affect cabin crew and staff stationed abroad, who include many foreigners.
The cuts are part of the “profound and painful” measures aimed at securing the future of the airline, which is bleeding more than $1 million (BD378,000) a day in losses. The company said employees had been fully briefed about the programme of cuts.
Gulf Air’s public relations manager Adnan Malek said: “Prior to the public announcement there was a staff-wide written announcement and personal briefing of senior managers.”
Last week Gulf Air officials also announced that services
to Dublin, Jakarta, Sidney, Singapore, Hong Kong and Johannesburg would be cancelled by July.
“The company needs deep, not cosmetic restructuring,” said Mr Dosé, “we are bleeding in some destinations ‘big time’ and they need to be stopped immediately”.
The airline’s fleet will also be cut from 34 to 28 and all nine of the company’s Boeing 767s will be sold off.
Ms Craig says she and her colleagues were dismayed by the announcement to cut the long-haul services. She said: “Now the South Africans and Australians (cabin crew) can’t access their home countries — and when we were recruited that’s what we were promised.”
Despite an uncertain future, Ms Craig is determined to stay in the Gulf: “I would still definitely stay in the region. There are many opportunities and other airlines in the Gulf are expanding.”

-RdS-