Qatar Airways has launched scheduled flights to the Libyan port city of Benghazi in North Africa.

Operating four-times-a-week from Doha, Libya’s second largest city is a leading economic centre, ideally located on the Mediterranean for trade and export.

Benghazi, together with the Ugandan city of Entebbe, are the airline’s latest African destinations launched within the space of two days taking the number of new routes started by the Doha-based carrier this year to 14.

Benghazi is home to numerous industries, including oil refining, food processing, cement production and fishing, which would benefit from the new flights to and from Doha and Qatar Airways’ connecting points across the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific.

Qatar Airways chief flight operations officer Captain Suhail Abdul Hameed Ismaeel, sixth left, with well wishers, including airport officials at Benghazi’s Benina International Airport

Qatar Airways is operating an Airbus A320 aircraft, configured with 12 seats in Business Class and 132 in Economy on the route.

Qatar Airways is already well established in Libya, despite having to temporarily suspend flights to Tripoli due to the recent political situation, but hopes to resume services in due course.

Qatar Airways is to launch its last new route of 2011 on November 28th with services from Doha to the Chinese city of Chongqing.