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 Hamad International Airport in Doha, the airline has said in a statement.
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; Yanbu and Tabuk as our ninth and 10th 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 with the convenience of additional gateways within the kingdom, he added.
The airline will fly the A320 aircraft direct to and from Yanbu and Tabuk on a three-flights-a-week schedule, featuring a two-class cabin configuration with 12 seats in First Class and 132 in Economy, the statement notes.
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 weekly flights to Saudi Arabia to 164 non-stop flights.
The flight schedules are as follows:
Doha-Yanbu (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday) - QR 1216 departing Doha at 12.55pm and arriving in Yanbu at 3.35pm, and QR 1217 departing Yanbu at 4.35pm and arriving in Doha at 7pm;
Doha-Tabuk (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) - QR1220 departing Doha at 12.35pm and arriving in Tabuk at 3.20pm, and QR1221 departing Tabuk at 4.20pm and arriving in Doha at 7pm.
