Gulf Air –– the national flag carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain –– posted significant improvements in its 2012 half-yearly performance against the same period last year across its business operations. Announcing the highlights of the January-June 2012 business performance of the company, Gulf Air CEO Samer Majali said that the airline has recorded six per cent increase in revenue and 13 per cent increase in passenger numbers as compared to the same period last year. Seat load factor has reached 77 per cent for the same period registering a five per cent growth, it said. The airline’s Falcon Gold premium class alone has seen a healthy 35 per cent growth, while the economy class has recorded a 12 per cent growth over the same period last year. Gulf Air currently operates one of the youngest fleets in the region with an average fleet age of just 4.7 years. The airline’s on-time punctuality has grown to 79 per cent as against 78 per cent in 2011, and 74 per cent in 2010 while its technical dispatch reliability has reached 99.4 per cent.