Qatar Airways to introduce new gateway

Qatar Airways will launch flights to Gassim in Saudi Arabi effective January 7, 2013, the carrier announced here Sunday. Gassim will become the Doha-headquartered carrier’s fifth destination in Saudi Arabia after Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam and Medina where it operates regular flights. In a statement today, Qatar Airways said it will operate four-flights-a-week to Gassim which is located 400 kilometres northwest of Riyadh. Gassim is Saudi Arabia’s seventh most populated province with a rich agricultural industry. The new destination will be served by an Airbus A320 in a two-class configuration of 12 seats in First Class and 132 in Economy. Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said he was delighted the airline was boosting services to Saudi Arabia, a market where the carrier had more than doubled frequency over the past year. “Today Qatar Airways operates 60 flights a week across four destinations in Saudi Arabia, which will rise to 64 with the addition of Gassim as our newest route, representing the importance and commitment Qatar Airways has in the Saudi market,” he said. “From Gassim, passengers will be able to travel seamlessly through our Doha hub to popular cities such as London, Paris, Bangkok, Singapore, New York and Washington – some great examples of offering passengers across Saudi Arabia with increased travel options and greater flexibility. “Saudi Arabia’s aviation industry has experienced unprecedented growth over the past few years, reporting the strongest increase in passenger traffic in more than a decade in 2011, with more than 54 million passengers travelling from the country last year. With increased government investment in the private sector and major infrastructure developments underway, we are very excited about our expansion plans in the Kingdom,” added Al Baker. Qatar Airways has seen rapid growth in just 15 years of operations, currently operating a modern fleet of 111 aircraft to 118 key business and leisure destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, North America and South America. Since the beginning of 2012, Qatar Airways has launched flights to Baku (Azerbaijan); Tbilisi (Georgia); Kigali (Rwanda); Zagreb (Croatia), Erbil (Iraq), Baghdad (Iraq), Perth (Australia) and Kilimanjaro (Tanzania). Over the next few months, Qatar Airways will launch services to a diverse portfolio of new routes, including Yangon, Myanmar (October 3); Maputo, Mozambique (October 31); Belgrade, Serbia (November 20); Warsaw, Poland (December 5) and Chicago, USA (10 April 2013).