Qatar Airways today confirmed the start of its new services to Yanbu and Tabuk in Saudi Arabia with three-weekly flights beginning May 9 for Yanbu and June 19 for Tabuk.

The additional destinations take Qatar Airways’ total network connectivity within the kingdom to 10 destinations, connecting travellers from Saudi Arabia to more than 150 worldwide destinations through the five-star rated Hamad International Airport in Doha.

Qatar Airways group chief executive Akbar Al Baker said: “We have been steadily growing our presence and services to Saudi Arabia for the past 20 years; both Yanbu and Tabuk as our ninth and 10th new destinations in the kingdom will bring additional flight options for passengers connecting from Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas. Passengers from Yanbu and Tabuk will now be able to travel seamlessly through our state-of-the-art Doha hub, Hamad International Airport, to popular cities in our expanding network such as Auckland, Boston and Skopje. The launch of the new destinations also provides passengers travelling to Saudi Arabia from international markets the convenience of additional gateways within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”

The airline will fly the A320 aircraft direct to and from Yanbu and Tabuk on a three-weekly schedule, featuring a two-class cabin configuration with 12 seats in First Class and 132 Economy Class seats.

Qatar Airways began operations to Saudi Arabia in 1997 with non-stop flights to Jeddah. The airline has added Riyadh, Dammam, Madinah, Gassim, Ta’if, Al Hofuf and Abha to its portfolio of destinations, all non-stop to and from Doha, with connections to Qatar Airways’ destinations worldwide.

Qatar Airways currently operates 158 weekly flights to eight key cities in Saudi Arabia. The addition of Yanbu and Tabuk will increase the number of Qatar Airways’ weekly flights to Saudi Arabia to 164 non-stop flights.

Now in its 20th year of operations, Qatar Airways has a modern fleet of 193 aircraft flying to  key business and leisure destinations across six continents. - TradeArabia News Service