Gulf Air Will Keep Airbus Order Schedule

Bahrain-based Gulf Air will keep taking delivery of planes it has ordered from Airbus on schedule, its chief executive said on Monday.

Bjorn Naf said in an interview on the sidelines of the IATA aviation conference in Kuala Lumpur that he saw no signs yet of a recovery in the airline industry but he hoped for one by the second half of 2010.

Gulf Air has 35 Airbus planes on order as of March. It has also ordered 16 Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft.

Naf said the rapid expansion of carriers based in the Gulf was slowing but that Gulf Air's growth plans were still intact.