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.[6] 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