Gulf air, the national airline of Bahrain, responded to recent media reports on Bahrain’s Foreign Minister's flight from Kuala Lumpur to the Kingdom.

Gulf Air would like to clarify the following sequence of events surrounding the recent incident with the minister, Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, a statement said.

"His Excellency the minister was scheduled to travel from Kuala Lumpur to Bahrain on January 8. Prior to his departure, Gulf Air received a request from the Bahrain Embassy in Thailand for seats in the front Falcon Gold Class cabin. This was duly confirmed by Gulf Air's manager in Kuala Lumpur.

"Unfortunately the flight bound for Kuala Lumpur had to be cancelled due to a technical issue resulting in the cancellation of the return flight on which the minister was scheduled to travel.

"The safety and well-being of Gulf Air passengers has always been the company's main consideration.

"Priority was given to the minister on the next available flight GF283. However, as this flight was delayed, passengers had already been checked in.

"Therefore, the minister's request for the specific seats could not be accommodated. Nevertheless the Gulf Air manager was able to offer him seats in the other Falcon Gold Class cabin.

"It is unfortunate that we were not able to meet the minister's request and we would like to take this occasion to apologise to the minister and the passengers of the cancelled flight for the disruption that occurred." – TradeArabia News Service