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From red to black

DUBAI — James Hogan, President and Chief executive of Gulf Air, was the key speaker at Top Travel Talk held at the InterContinental Hotel in Frankfurt on April 6.

Addressing senior delegates from all sectors of the travel industry on the subject of corporate change, he discussed the unique approach adopted at Gulf Air to return the airline from loss to sustainable profitability over a period of three years.

“In response to a 2002-mandate from our shareholders and the Board to transform Gulf Air into a commercially successful world class airline, we developed Project Falcon a three-year restructuring programme,” he explained.

He added: “Sustainable corporate change envisaged in this programme is not an overnight process. It is more like a journey in which successive steps form a platform for the creation of a robust, but flexible organisation that can withstand and respond to the dynamics of the market.It cannot be achieved by cutbacks and cost cutting alone. While fiscal discipline and good corporate governance are vital, they are not sufficient to ensure long-term continuity and viability; to guarantee the employment of the thousands of people who work in the airline, or the airline's ability to contribute meaningfully to the regional economies."

On the eve of the WTTC summit in New Delhi where he will participate in a debate on synergies in the travel and tourism industry, he also stressed the importance and logic of working with strategic partners.