AirAsia eyes direct flights to Bahrain

MANILA, Philippines — Low-cost carrier AirAsia is exploring the possibility of putting up direct flights to Bahrain from Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines, to provide onward trips to Europe and the US.

AirAsia’s parent Capital A Bhd. has signed a letter of intent (LOI) seeking to transform Bahrain into the airline’s Middle East hub in line with its strategy to expand westward.

As such, AirAsia will look into the viability of mounting direct flights to Bahrain from Southeast Asian nations Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia over the next five years.

The plan is to operate 25 flights per week between Bahrain and Southeast Asia by 2030. AirAsia also eyes Bahrain to serve as its Middle East hub to connect passengers to Europe and the US.

Capital A CEO Tony Fernandes said the planned expansion in Bahrain could serve as many as 20 million passengers over the next five years. Likewise, it would contribute as much as $8 billion to Bahrain’s economy.

Further, Fernandes said AirAsia plans to support more than 100,000 jobs in the aviation industry of Bahrain, undertaking a multi-year development program for local talents with the objective of hiring over 1,000 personnel in the first year.

“By 2030, in addition to potentially operating a Bahrain-based AOC (airline operations center), we expect to operate over 25 daily flights between Bahrain and our Southeast Asian megahubs to carry over 20 million passengers over the next five years,” Fernandes said.

“There will be new flows of people, trade, talent and cargo, not just between major capitals, but into fast-growing secondary, emerging cities where real economic expansion happens,” he added.

For the Philippines, a direct flight to Bahrain will widen the options of Filipinos headed there for work. Currently, flag carrier Gulf Air is the lone operator linking Manila and Bahrain on a direct route.

Bahrain, as part of the Middle East, is home to thousands of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). Latest data from the Department of Foreign Affairs showed there were 55,790 OFWs in Bahrain, making it the fifth largest OFW market in the Middle East.

For AirAsia, the expansion toward Bahrain brings it closer to its plan of connecting passengers to the western side of the world through one-stop flights.

Recently, Fernandes has announced that AirAsia is retiring all of its widebody aircraft by 2031 to focus on turning its fleet into all single-aisle jets.