Gulf Air, the national airline of Bahrain, plans to start flights to three new destinations in Italy, Uganda and Sudan in the coming months.

These are Rome, the Italian capital, Entebbe, the hub of Uganda’s commercial sector and Juba, the capital of newly independent country, South Sudan.

The flights to Rome will begin on November 30 with four per week. The inaugural promo fares from Bahrain to Rome starts at BD100 ($265), said a statement from Gulf Air.

The services to Entebbe start on December 5 and will also run four times a week. The inaugural promo fares from Bahrain to Entebbe start at BD 112.

The airline will fly thrice a week to Sudanese city of Juba starting from February 7. The inaugural fares to Juba start at BD 168 from Bahrain.

Commenting on the launch, chief executive officer Samer Majali said the new routes were part of the airline’s long-term strategy to connect Bahrain and the region with new and unexplored markets.

'It is one more example of our pioneering tradition, establishing our leadership position to gain commercial advantage in new markets,' he noted.

“The commencement of services to Entebbe and Juba firmly establishes our renewed focus in the emerging markets of the African continent, where we see a huge potential,' said Majali.

'It also opens up new business opportunities between Bahrain and these fast-developing countries,' he added.

Chief commercial officer Karim Makhlouf said with the resuming of Rome services, Gulf Air is expanding its Italian operations after Milan, which after its launch in March this year has proved to be very successful.

'Now with the addition of Rome, we are connecting the Northern and South Central parts of Italy to the Middle East.'

“As the Middle East’s largest network carrier, we are well positioned to connect these three countries to the vast Mena, Far East and Indian subcontinent markets.'

'With nearly 700 flights per week within the region, our customers will be able to find a flight to their destination in the shortest possible connecting time via our efficient hub Bahrain,' he added.– TradeArabia News Service