The productivity of alkaloid in the airlift fermentor operation was less than that of suspension coltures of Eschscholtzia californica cells in the shake flask. To overcome the productivity reduction, a gas recycle airlift fermentor was developed because the gas-stripping in normal airlift fermentor was believed to play a significant role for productivity reduction. The alkaloid content in the gas recycle system with Eschscholtzia californica suspension cells was 2.7 times higher than that of normal airlift fermentor. The productivity of alkaloids and $CO_2$ concentration were affected by the volume of gas reservoir in the gas recycle airlift fermentor.