Gulf Air, the national carrier of Bahrain, has launched a community outreach campaign to support local charities registered with the Ministry of Social Development.

Under the scheme, the airline will provide a number of tickets to these institutions to give individuals who wish to travel on  religious pilgrimages.

The first-of-its-kind initiative is part of the airline’s wider corporate social responsibility commitment to lend a helping hand to the Bahraini society, said a satatement.

Gulf Air CEO Samer Majali said: "Today’s announcement embodies the spirit of the holy month of Ramadan and reaffirms our commitment, as the country’s national carrier, to support all areas of the local community. Through offering a number of complimentary tickets to local charities we hope to help more pilgrims wishing to travel to Jeddah, Madinah and Najaf, to perform their religious rituals.”

Director of corporate affairs and public relations, Mohammed Amin Hulaiwah, commented: "This is the first in a series of initiatives being run as part of the community outreach campaign designed to support various charities operating in the Kingdom, and to give back to the local community. This initiative will bring happiness to the hearts of those Bahrainis longing to visit Islamic holy lands.”

He continued: ”Over the last few months we have been increasing our support towards local charity initiatives and this is an area we will be increasing our focus on in the future.”

A team from the Gulf Air Corporate Communications Department will start visiting a number of charities directly after Eid al-Fitr to deliver the tickets allocated for this campaign. The tickets can be used to travel to any religious destination on the airline’s network. The initiative will continue until the end of 2011 and cover as many charities as possible. - TradeArabia News Service