Manama, January 12 (BNA): For the first time in the national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain, Gulf Air has successfully completed the longest business continuity test exercise, smoothly without interrupting Gulf Air operations. The exercise was planned for a number of Gulf Air’s vital business functions to measure the recovery of the company’s individual competencies and prepare to continue operations in the event of unforeseen situations or disasters.
After the successful completion of the drilling test, Acting CEO Captain Waleed Al Alawi received the Business Continuity Committee headed by its Chairman and Technical Director of Gulf Air Mr. Jamal Hashem, who presented the final report of the drilling test. The airline’s acting CEO thanked the Business Continuity Committee for the good work it had done and stressed the importance of the digital transformation and technology strategy for the airline’s business.
The exercise on the airline’s actual operations was conducted last month by adopting a three-day “remote work” model. The recovery teams took full control of the operations, took over from the headquarters team for three consecutive days, and carried out all remote operational activities including connectivity to live aircraft and global outstations.
Several key business functions were involved in this exercise, such as the Integrated Operations Center (IOC), Aircraft Maintenance Control Center (MCC), aircraft technical planning, crew control, call center, flight dispatch, central reservation center, and airport support unit ( ASU), Finance, Revenue Accounting, Human Resources (HR) and Information Technology (IT) and Corporate Communications (PR). This exercise was successfully achieved by introducing the latest high-tech collaborative telecom and digital telephony solutions in the workplace for instant communication and decision making.
The main objective of this exercise was to assess whether a pre-set recovery time goal (RTO – time window to resume operations) for business functions was met and to assess recovery plan actions and preparedness of team members for major incidents, as well as the effectiveness of remote operations.
A Business Continuity Management System (BCMS) is defined as the advanced planning and preparation of an organization to maintain business functions or quickly resume business in/after a major disaster. It also includes identifying potential risks including natural disasters, fires, floods or cyber attacks, epidemics, etc.
AOQ