Gulf Air (Arabic: طيران الخليج‎‎ Ṭayarān al-Khalīj) is the principal flag carrier of Bahrain. Headquartered in Muharraq, adjacent to Bahrain International Airport, the airline operates scheduled services to 41 destinations in 23 countries across Africa, Asia and Europe. Its main base is Bahrain International Airport.

Unlike its larger rivals, Emirates Airline, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways, which focus on transit passenger traffic through their respective hubs, Gulf Air has focused on point-to-point passenger traffic. The airline, which has suffered financial losses in recent years, has an ongoing restructuring programme to limit operating losses and return it to profitability.

In the late 1940s, Freddie Bosworth, a British pilot and entrepreneur, began an air taxi service to Doha and Dhahran from Bahrain. Bosworth later expanded service and, on 24 March 1950, registered Gulf Aviation Company Limited as a private shareholding company. This makes its current operating company, Gulf Air, one of the oldest carriers in the Middle East. The early fleet contained seven Avro Ansons and three de Havilland DH.86B four-engine biplanes.

In October 1951, British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) became a major shareholder in Gulf Aviation, holding a 22% stake through the BOAC subsidiary company BOAC Associated Companies.

In 1973 the governments of the Emirate (now Kingdom) of Bahrain, the State of Qatar, the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the Sultanate of Oman agreed to purchase the BOAC Associated Companies holding in Gulf Aviation. The Foundation Treaty was signed on 1 January 1974 and gave each government a 25% shareholding in Gulf Aviation, which became a holding company. The operating company was now branded as Gulf Air and became the flag carrier for the four states.

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