In the late 1940s, Freddie Bosworth, a British pilot and entrepreneur, began an air taxi service to Doha and Dhahran from Bahrain. History 1949–1973: Gulf Aviation as operating company Dubai–International is the busiest route served by the airline, with over 95 flights a week back and forth. It has been certified with a 5-Star COVID-19 Airline Safety Rating by Skytrax, becoming one of just sixteen airlines and only the third airline in the world and in the Middle East respectively to currently achieve this top recognition. Gulf Air is the sponsor of the Bahrain Grand Prix and Bahrain International Airshow. Gulf Air currently serves all its destinations with a combination of the narrow body jets Airbus A320, Airbus A321, Airbus A320neo and Airbus A321neo, as well as the wide body Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. The airline's main hub is Bahrain International Airport.

Headquartered in Muharraq, the airline operates scheduled flights to 59 destinations in 28 countries across Africa, Asia, and Europe. Gulf Air ( Arabic: طيران الخليج, romanized: Ṭayarān al-Khalīj) is the state-owned airline and the flag carrier of Bahrain, which was founded in 1950 by British pilot Freddie Bosworth as Gulf Aviation. Captain Waleed Abdulhameed Al Alawi, CEO.