Back in April 2021, Bahrain’s national carrier Gulf Air returned to the Singapore market for the first time in 13 years, with a weekly Boeing 787-9 flight also serving Bangkok, Thailand via a “fifth freedom” extension from Changi.

Services have since ramped up to three times weekly on the route, but there are some changes afoot for the upcoming northern winter 2024/25 season from late October.

Singapore – Bangkok “fifth freedom” flights ending

Gulf Air will cease its flights between Singapore and Bangkok from 27th October 2024, with the final service on this route operating the previous day, on 26th October 2024.

The airline has “fifth freedom” traffic rights on this two-hour intra-Asia hop, which allows it to sell tickets for travel solely between Singapore and Bangkok, with round-trip fares for travel next month from S$385 in Economy Class and S$995 in Falcon Gold (Business Class).

Here’s how the schedule looks for these flights between now and their termination.

Singapore Bangkok
Now to 26th October 2024

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	GF165 787-9
SIN 14:00		BKK 15:35
Duration: 02:35
	GF166 787-9
BKK 16:35		SIN 20:00
Duration: 02:25

The Singapore – Bangkok route will continue to be served by the following airlines, after Gulf Air ends its services.

• Cathay Pacific (BKK)
• Jetstar Asia (BKK)
• Scoot (BKK)
• Singapore Airlines (BKK)
• Thai AirAsia (DMK)
• Thai Airways (BKK)
• Thai Lion Air (DMK)

Cathay Pacific also taps “fifth freedom” traffic flights on its daily Singapore – Bangkok flights, which you can redeem in Business Class from 16,500 miles with minimal taxes of S$67.

Gulf Air will continue to operate daily non-stop Bangkok – Bahrain flights, even after this removal of additional three times weekly service via Singapore.

Gulf Air will ramp up to daily Singapore – Bahrain flights

The good news is that Gulf Air is not abandoning the Singapore market, like it did in back 2008.

Quite the opposite in fact – alongside delinking these Singapore flights from Bangkok the carrier will actually ramp up non-stop terminator Singapore – Bahrain services from three times per week to daily, offering onward connections to many European cities.

Here’s how the new schedule will look, with minor timing differences on different days of the week in both directions.

Singapore Bahrain
From 27th October 2024

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	GF166 787-9
SIN 20:25		BAH 23:55
Duration: 08:30
	GF166 787-9
SIN 21:00		BAH 00:30*
Duration: 08:30

* Next day

Bahrain Singapore
From 27th October 2024

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	GF165 787-9
BAH 23:05		SIN 11:40*
Duration: 07:35
	GF165 787-9
BAH 23:45		SIN 12:20*
Duration: 07:35

* Next day

These flights include a range of 1 to 4 hour connections through Bahrain with many European cities, including London, Athens, Paris, Manchester, Rome and Milan.

Gulf Air Boeing 787 cabins

The Gulf Air Boeing 787-9 is configured to seat 282 passengers in the following configuration:

• 26 Business Class
• 256 Economy Class

The airline uses the (excellent) Apex Suite in its Business Class (Falcon Gold) cabin, a product also found on Oman Air and Japan Airlines.

On paper, with a 2-2-2 layout, it seems strange that the design wins such praise, but the key to this one is a clever ‘staggered’ arrangement at the window seats.

This allows direct aisle access for the window passenger (and no one climbing over the aisle passenger at the window pairs), the primary drawback for older 2-2-2 configurations.

Gulf Air Boeing 787 flights also include a ‘Sky Chef’, dedicated to the F&B service.

While Japan Airlines occasionally substitutes its Apex Suite-fitted aircraft on Singapore – Tokyo flights, Gulf Air was the first carrier to consistently offer the product to and from Changi.

We’ve got a comprehensive review of our experience in the Apex Suite on board Oman Air between Muscat and Jakarta, in a very similar configuration used by Gulf Air.

You can read a recent review Gulf Air’s Boeing 787-9 Business Class here.

In Economy Class, Gulf Air has a standard 3-3-3 layout, with a 32″ seat pitch and on-demand entertainment via 11.6″ seat-back IFE screens.

All Boeing 787 aircraft are Wi-Fi equipped, as are the carrier’s Airbus A320neo and Airbus A321neo aircraft.

Speaking of the narrow-body fleet, if you find yourself on one of Gulf Air’s new Airbus A321neos for your connecting flight to or from Bahrain, these feature the Collins Aerospace Diamond Business Class seats in a 2-2 configuration.

Miles and points

Gulf Air has its own frequent flyer programme, Falconflyer, but unfortunately it is not part of any major airline alliance, so earning and redemption options using more common frequent flyer programmes is limited.

On the plus side for most of our readers, you can earn and redeem miles on Gulf Air flights using the following partner FFPs:

• Cathay Asia Miles
• Etihad Guest

While these are useful programmes to credit paid Gulf Air flights to, unfortunately they mostly don’t represent good value when redeeming on the airline.

Redemption rates on Gulf Air
(one-way)

	Eco	Biz	Eco	Biz
Singapore – Bahrain	27,000	43,000	45,000	80,000
Singapore – London	40,000	89,000	75,000	140,000
Singapore – Bangkok*	15,000	33,000	12,000	25,000

* Until 26th October 2024

Using Asia Miles in Business Class to or from Europe (e.g. London / Frankfurt), comes in at 89,000 miles one-way in Business Class, an unfortunate sharp increase on the previous 70,000 miles rate the programme offered prior to its October 2023 devaluation.

Bear in mind that Gulf Air does impose fuel surcharges, adding around S$280 to a one-way Singapore – London redemption in addition to your miles outlay and the compulsory airport taxes.

In both cases (Asia Miles and Etihad Guest), you’ll have to call to check Gulf Air award availability and to book.

We haven’t included Gulf Air’s Falconflyer award rates for redemptions and upgrades, given that most of our readers aren’t members of the programme, but you can check the applicable rates at the airline’s Mileage Calculator.

Bahrain Airport revamp

Most of our readers probably haven’t experienced an aircraft transit in Bahrain before, but take it from us – in the past it was never anything to particularly look forward to!

However, that’s all changed in recent years, with the opening of a brand new terminal in late January 2021.

This also includes a brand new Falcon Lounge for those flying from Bahrain in Business Class, including transit passengers. Among the usual facilities, the new lounge features live cooking stations and a pool table!

You can read a recent review of the lounge here.

Gulf Air is ending its three times weekly “fifth freedom” flights between Singapore and Bangkok next month, though seven airlines will continue to ply the busy route, including Cathay Pacific, who also use these traffic rights to operate between the two cities.

On the plus side, Gulf Air will ramp up its Singapore operations to a daily non-stop Bahrain service using Boeing 787-9 aircraft with Apex Suites in Business Class, adding more options for Singapore – Europe travel.

(Cover Photo: Plane’s Portrait Aviation Media / Malcolm Lu)