Qatar Airways has announced it will begin flights to Ta’if, in the Mecca province of Saudi Arabia, beginning October 2nd 2013. 

The non-stop service from Doha will operate four-times-a-week.

“For nearly 20 years we have been steadily growing our presence and services to Saudi Arabia,” said Qatar Airways chief executive Akbar Al Baker. 

“As our sixth destination, Ta’if will bring additional connectivity for passengers connecting from Asia, the Middle East and GCC countries.”

The Doha – Ta’if route will be operated by a state-of-the-art Airbus A320 with an average travel duration time of just over two hours. 

The aircraft will feature 144 seats in a two-class configuration of 12 seats in Business Class and 132 seats in Economy.

Selected aircraft will feature seatback TV screens, providing passengers with the next generation interactive on board entertainment system, featuring a choice of more than 800 audio and video on-demand options, together with an SMS text messaging service from each seat.

The launch marks the continued expansion of services by Qatar Airways to Saudi Arabia since it began in 1997 with non-stop flights to Jeddah.

Since then the airline has added Riyadh, Dammam, Madinah and Gassim to its portfolio of destinations.