Gulf Air (GF, Bahrain International) announced a significant restructuring of its Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) and Boeing (BOE, Washington National) order books at the recently opened Bahrain International Airshow.

Concerning Airbus, Gulf Air says it has a placed firm order for twenty-nine A320neo Family aircraft entailing seventeen A321neo and twelve A320neo (ten of which were confirmed in 2012). Of the A321neo, nine will be standard while the remainder will be Long Range variants. This order replaces a previous one for six A330-300s.

Concerning Boeing, Gulf Air has converted an order for sixteen B787-8s to B787-9s. Ten of the twinjets are scheduled to be delivered from the second quarter of 2018 through to 2020, with a second batch of six delivered between 2023-24.

“Is the -8 the correct answer for Gulf Air? No. It’s not right because we need a larger aircraft with longer range and an aircraft that can be utilised throughout our network. I need a high-density aircraft to go to Manila Ninoy Aquino International and Bangkok Suvarnabhumi. The -8 is fine for flying to London Heathrow, but not to Bangkok and Manila because of the number of passengers,” CEO Maher Salman Al Musallam told Arabian Aerospace.

At present, Gulf Air is an all-Airbus operation employing sixteen A320-200s, six A321-200s, and six A330-200s. The B787s will replace the A330s as the backbone of Gulf Air's widebody fleet.