Bahrain Airport Company CEO: Partnership is the route to the Airport’s success
Gordon Dewar advocates treating your customers as partners at the Leading the Change conference
27 October 2010


Bahrain Airport Company (BAC) Chief Executive Officer, Gordon Dewar yesterday stressed the importance of working closely with customers at any given organization, citing partnership as the key to success. His words were made during his speech today as guest speaker at the Leading the Change conference hosted by MSB Consultancy at the Ritz Carlton Hotel and Spa.

Using his current role as an example as well as his previous experience as Managing Director of Edinburgh Airport, Mr. Dewar illustrated that making your customers your partners is the right approach to a successful business. In the case of Bahrain International Airport (BIA), its clients are mainly the air carriers that operate through it. As operators and managers of BIA, any plans and strategies should involve and take into consideration the various air carriers that operate through BIA and their objectives. Mr. Dewar highlighted that change is always coming, whether these changes are chosen or imposed, and it is important that any organization is prepared for it and can capitalize on it.

“We are operating in a very dynamic climate and need to be prepared for this,” commented Mr. Dewar. “First we must indentify our competitive advantages, in BIA’s case, the efficient and excellent levels of service and its welcoming attitude; and our challenges, mainly capacity constraints. Our next step would be to understand the strategies and objectives of our clients and Airport operators, and from this we could develop a comprehensive plan for BIA by engaging with our partners.”

“This way, our partners are not only aware of our plans, but support it,” Mr. Dewar continued. He believes that by having all partners signing up to a common plan, all players can achieve shared commercial and financial success. BAC’s plan to expand and develop BIA is taking into consideration the trajectory national carriers like Gulf Air and Bahrain Air are aiming to take. “After all, airlines success will be BIA’s success,” he concluded.