Qatar Airways announces seventh destination of Al Hofuf in Saudi Arabia

Tuesday, 22 April 2014 00:10 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Adds additional frequencies to Madinah and Gassim
New destination demonstrates commitment to Saudi Arabia
Increases frequencies to Madinah and Gassim due to strong demand

DOHA, Qatar: Qatar Airways is adding Al Hofuf in Saudi Arabia to its ever-increasing list of destinations. And as a further demonstration of its commitment to expanding its regional footprint, Qatar Airways recently increased the frequencies of two of its other destinations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Strong passenger demand has prompted the Doha-based airline to double its weekly flight frequency to Gassim, while flights to Madinah recently increased from five to seven per week. The additional new destination of Al Hofuf, through Al Ahsa Airport (HOF), is further proof of the increasing consumer and business demands on these popular Saudi Arabian routes. Details of the new 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) a 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 The increase in frequency on these routes, together with the new destination of Al Hofuf, will mean that Qatar Airways will now fly to seven destinations in Saudi Arabia and will operate 79 flights per week to the country. Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said: “At Qatar Airways, we remain committed to opening up access to new destinations in the Middle East and around the world. 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 itself.” The new Al Hofuf route will be operated with an Airbus A320 in a two-class configuration of 12 seats in Business Class and 132 seats in Economy Class. The aircraft features seatback TV screens providing all passengers in both cabins with the next generation interactive onboard entertainment systems. The increases in frequency on the other two routes will provide business and leisure passengers travelling to all three destinations with more flexibility and greater choice to connect onto Qatar Airways’ extensive global network covering six continents. Qatar Airways has seen rapid growth in just 17 years of operations, currently flying a modern fleet of 131 aircraft to 137 key business and leisure destinations across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and the Americas. Over the next few months, the network will grow further with Larnaca, Cyprus (29 April), Al Hofuf (15 May), Istanbul SabihaGökçen Airport, Turkey (22 May), Edinburgh, Scotland (28 May), Miami, USA (10 June), Haneda, Japan (18 June) and Dallas/Fort Worth, USA (1 July).