Qatar Airways will start services to Yanbu in Saudi Arabia on May 9th, with flights to Tabuk following on June 19th.

The airline will offer three-weekly flights to each destination.

The additional destinations take Qatar Airways’ total network connectivity within the Kingdom to ten destinations, connecting travellers from Saudi Arabia.

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; both Yanbu and Tabuk as our ninth and tenth new destinations in the Kingdom will bring additional flight options for passengers.

“The launch of the new destinations also provides passengers travelling to Saudi Arabia from international markets the convenience of additional gateways within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”

The airline will fly the A320 aircraft direct to and from Yanbu and Tabuk on a three-weekly schedule, featuring a two-class cabin configuration with 12 seats in First Class and 132 Economy Class seats.

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 Qatar Airways’ weekly flights to Saudi Arabia to 164 non-stop flights.