Bahrain’s national carrier Gulf Air plans to boost its Saudi operations with 11 extra flights to Jeddah and Riyadh from next month which will offer 3,000 more seats and 22 tons more cargo space per week.

Gulf Air will operate four extra flights to Jeddah, increasing its frequency from 10 to 14 per week each direction starting from March 1, while adding seven flights to Riyadh increasing the frequency from its present 14 flights per week to 21 flights each direction, the company said in a statement.

The move comes in response to the increasing passenger demand as together, these additional flights will offer 3000 seats and 22,000 kg of cargo capacity per week, said the Gulf Air statement.

Announcing the launch, Gulf Air CEO Samer Majali said, 'The introduction of additional flights to these two cities emphasizes the importance we attach to Saudi and our business strategy to concentrate on high-demand routes to ensure our core customer base is served effectively and efficiently.'

'The new flights also reiterate the national carrier’s business objective of providing double daily and same day return for business travellers, who now have more options to travel to these cities and return the same day after completing their business without the need to stay overnight involving expensive hotel accommodation,' he added.

As a special promotion, Gulf Air is offering a special 20 per cent discount between Jeddah/Riyadh and Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai (Madras), Karachi, Lahore, Kathmandu and Bangkok.

'The departures and arrivals of the additional flights have been timed in such a way that it benefits international and regional business travellers,' said Majali.

'Being strategically located at the doorsteps of Saudi, Gulf Air offers the best connections for customers to reach out to the vast GCC, Mena and Europe markets with over 300 connections in less than three hours via its efficient Bahrain hub,' Majali observed.

'Regional travellers now have more flight options to travel between Bahrain and these cities and return the same day,' he added.

With introduction of additional flights, Jeddah customers are now connected to more new destinations, i.e. Frankfurt, Rome, Paris, Kabul, Cairo, Copenhagen, Nairobi, Amman and Beirut as well as 13 more extra connections to and from Mumbai, New Delhi, and Chennai (Madras).

“We have been flying to Jeddah since 1976 and own the distinction of being the first international airline to land in Riyadh in 1982. Since then we have continuously expanded and strengthened our presence connecting customers from the far corners of the Kingdom to the world through our network,” stated Majali.

Customers from Riyadh will be able to connect to Kabul in addition to getting onward connections to Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai within one/two hours via Bahrain, the airlien said in its statement.

Besides, the extra cargo capacity on the increased frequencies means shorter connecting time in Bahrain, which is crucial for people dealing with perishable products such as meat, fish, fruits and vegetables and pharmaceutical shipments that need to be reached to their final destinations faster, it added.-TradeArabia News Service