Qatar Airways launched flights to the central Saudi city of Gassim yesterday. Pictured on arrival marking the new route with a cake-cutting are Qatar Airways senior vice president (GCC, Levant, Iran and the subcontinent) Fathi al-Shehab with Mohamed al-Majled, general manager, Gassim’s Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz Airport, flanked by airline officials.
Qatar Airways launched its first new route of 2013 with the introduction of scheduled services to Gassim in Saudi Arabia yesterday.
The Doha – Gassim route is the carrier’s fifth gateway in the kingdom, where it already connects Riyadh, Jeddah, Medina and Dammam.
With Gassim the number of weekly flights to Saudi Arabia has gone up to 65 from 61 earlier.
The Doha-based airline will operate four-flights-a-week to the central Saudi city, providing inbound travellers to the Kingdom with yet another destination to choose from, while connecting outbound travellers from Gassim will have a huge network of over 120 cities to fly to with Qatar Airways via its Doha hub.
The addition of Gassim takes the airline’s expanding global network to some 123 destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, North America and South America.
Ringing in the new year with the new route, Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz Regional Airport welcomed Qatar Airways’ inaugural flight with a water salute as the Airbus A320 touched down in the early hours of this morning.
Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar al-Baker said: “Saudi Arabia’s aviation industry has experienced unprecedented growth over the past few years and we at Qatar Airways are delighted to be part of this growth by launching additional capacity into this vibrant market.
With increased government investment in the private sector and major infrastructure developments underway, we are very excited about our expansion here with the launch of our newest and first route of 2013 to the city of Gassim.”
The maiden flight carried an official delegation from Doha, led by Fathi al-Shehab, Qatar Airways senior vice president (GCC, Levant, Iran and the subcontinent).
As Saudi Arabia’s seventh most populated province with a rich cultural and historical heritage, Gassim is a city known for dates and its agricultural industry. Not only is it home to more than 6mn palm trees making it the world’s biggest marketing outlet for the traditional Arabian fruit, but it is also stages the world’s largest date festival which, last year, showcased more t5han 200,000 tonnes of dates.