=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/news/archive/2002/06/09/f= inancial1505EDT0019.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday, June 9, 2002 (AP) Gulf Air CEO: Job cuts planned (06-09) 12:05 PDT MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) -- Gulf Air's newly appointed president on Sunday announced job cuts and restructuring aimed at returning the financially ailing airline to profitability in three years. "You don't change overnight ... but we can do it," president and chief executive James Hogan said at a press conference. "It is going to be a tough road, it's going to be a competitive road." Hogan, the former CEO of Ansett Airlines in Australia who was appointed last month to lead Gulf Air, said Gulf Air reforms and restructuring would include executive training and the appointments of senior international airline executives to provide specialized support. Job cuts are planned, he said without elaborating on the extent or areas to be affected. Hogan said most of the cuts would be made through voluntary means such as through early retirement programs. Starting in 1950 as the Gulf's only airline, Gulf Air today competes with the flag carriers of some of its owner-states. Qatar announced last month it was pulling out of Gulf Air, which is jointly owned by Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the emirate of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. A Qatari official has said the government became convinced the carrier could not be saved from collapse. =20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2002 AP