AL-AHSA, Saudi Arabia – Qatar Airways has launched its seventh destination to Saudi Arabia by adding the city of Al Ahsa.

The new route to Al-Ahsa International Airport will comprise four weekly non-stop flights from the airline’s hub in Doha, and will increase the number of Qatar Airways’ weekly flights to Saudi Arabia from 75 to 79.

The inaugural flight, was received with a water cannon salute, and Naif Al-Ghamidi, Al-Ahsa airport director, was present.

Qatar Airways started services to Saudi Arabia began in 1997 with non-stop flights to Jeddah. Since then, the airline has added Riyadh, Dammam, Madinah, Gassim and Tai’f.

Akbar Al Baker, Qatar Airways chief executive officer, said: “We have offered our excellent global connectivity to customers from Saudi Arabia for more than 15 years, and with the introduction of this new route, we look forward to offering our five-star services and global connectivity to even more customers to and from Al Ahsa.

“As we continue to expand our network and receive more aircraft, we will keep looking at opportunities to add capacity to our existing network and further strengthen our links within the Gulf.”

The new Al Ahsa route will be served by an Airbus A320 aircraft in a two-class configuration, with 12 seats in business class and 132 seats in economy.
In addition to this new route, Qatar Airways has also recently announced plans to double its weekly frequency to Gassim, and increase the number of flights to Madinah from weekly flights to daily operation.

Details of the new routes and additional frequencies are as follows:

Al Hofuf (Saudi Arabia), a new service of 4 flights per week starting on 15 May
Gassim (Saudi Arabia), doubling from 4 to 8 flights per week from 15 May
Madinah (Saudi Arabia), increased from 5 to 7 flights per week from 30 March

Al Hofuf flights schedule as of 15 May 2014:

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday
From Doha to Al Ahsa QR1200 Departure Doha at 08.05; Arrival Al Ahsa at 09.05
From Al Ahsa to Doha QR1201 Departure Al Ahsa at 10.10; Arrival Doha at 11.10