Bahrain’s national carrier Gulf Air has begun a series of advanced information technology (IT) training programmes in collaboration with ThinkSmart institute.

The collaboration aims to maintain the company's leadership in IT and to strengthen its cadres' competency and skills, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

"The advanced training programmes aim to raise the level of capabilities of the work team in the division, which includes 76 employees, who make up an integrated team of mostly young graduates," Gulf Air information technology director Dr Jassim Haji said.

"The company invests in rehabilitating and training this group after they showed many skills and abilities worthy of respect and appreciation," he added.

According to him, information technology competence is integral to airlines.

"I believe that the agreement would consolidate investment in the Bahraini cadres whose excellence, ability to innovate and development is clear in Gulf Air, especially that Gulf Air which was established in 1950 reached an excellent position in the field of investing and utilising information technology and became a regional leader in this area," Dr Haji added.

The airline's senior manager for people development Sohair Khalfan said it was constantly working on developing and training employees and providing them with the latest technology which would help them provide the best services to customers.

ThinkSmart chairman Ahmed Alhujairi said the agreement "forms a perfect model in making productive partnerships that benefit the IT industry sector in Bahrain."

He said the institute will make available all its capabilities, accumulated expertise and its international partnerships with companies such as Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco and others to provide advanced training programmes that enhance the performance of Gulf Air employees. - TradeArabia News Service