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Dubai - Gulf Air on Sunday launched direct flights from Bahrain to Dublin and reinstated its flights to Johannesburg.
Gulf Air, owned by the governments of Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, said it would fly three times a week to Dublin.
The flights to Johannesburg, which were stopped in 1997 for commercial reasons, resumed with three weekly flights.
"With the growing contact between South Africa and the Gulf region for business and tourism, we felt that the time was right to return to Johannesburg," said Chief Executive James Hogan.
In April, Bahrain-based Gulf Air announced that it had turned a profit last year for the first time since 1997, overcoming years of management troubles and general airline industry woes.
"Gulf Air is the only pan-Arab airline to fly nonstop to Dublin. Passengers, particularly those travelling onward to US destinations, will find this very convenient as they can complete their US immigration formalities in Dublin itself, thus avoiding the queues in the United States on arrival and get on with their businesses," Hogan said.
In December 2002, the owners of the carrier agreed to inject 90
million dinars (R1.52 billion) into the airline. At that time, it had run up an estimated debt of $500 million (R3.19 billion).
Gulf Air's network stretches from Europe to Asia and covers 46 cities in 30 countries. It has a fleet of 34 aircraft.
In September, the government of Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, announced it was withdrawing from Gulf Air. Industry officials said that pullout would be completed in six months.
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