Doha, QATAR – Qatar Airways today announces its fifth new route of 2013 to the Sultanate of Oman’s second largest city – the popular tourist destination of Salalah – effective May 22.
Oman is a mainstay of Qatar Airways’ Middle East network, with the airline steadily increasing capacity to the neighbouring Gulf State. Currently operating 31 flights a week to the Omani capital Muscat, Qatar Airways will serve the new destination of Salalah four-times-a-week raising the airline’s frequencies to Oman to 35 services.
News of the expansion comes as Qatar Airways implements a new code share agreement with Oman Air on flights between Doha and Muscat.
With Oman Air’s thrice-daily flights between Doha and Muscat, together with Qatar Airways’ capacity on the route, passengers have plenty of flights to choose from, to and from the Sultanate.
Following on from recent announcements by Qatar Airways to launch flights to Gassim in Saudi Arabia, Najaf in Iraq, the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh and the airline’s fourth US gateway of Chicago next year, the addition of Salalah demonstrates the airline’s commitment to expand to diverse destinations worldwide that are underserved, yet increasingly popular with holidaymakers and business travellers alike.
An ever-sought after tourism destination, Salalah is particularly popular with leisure travellers from Europe, North America, Africa and the Middle East.
Salalah is the capital of Dhofar Governorate, which stretches over a large area in southern Oman and covers a pristine coastal strip of over 550km. The city is located about 1,000 kilometres from Muscat.
Dhofar includes a distinctive natural diversity where the coast blends with the desert and mountain range that rises to over 1,500 metres.
Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said that the latest route expands on the large variety of attractive tourism destinations offered by the award-winning airline across the Middle East.
“Salalah offers passengers travelling from our global network with yet another unique holiday option to experience and at the same time provide the convenience of two gateways within the same country,” said Al Baker.
“With this new route, passengers wishing to explore Oman at length will also be able to take advantage of different travel options, booking flights into Muscat and returning from Salalah or vice versa.
“Qatar Airways is gearing up for another solid year of expansion with new routes steadily opening up, keeping in line with our commitment to provide passengers with choice, flexibility and great value when flying with us.”
The Salalah route will operate non-stop from the airline’s hub in Doha with an Airbus A320 aircraft in a two-class configuration of 12 seats in Business Class and 132 in Economy.
Qatar Airways has seen rapid growth in just 15 years of operations, currently flying a modern fleet of 111 aircraft to 120 key business and leisure destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, North America and South America.
Since the beginning of 2012, Qatar Airways has launched flights to Baku (Azerbaijan); Tbilisi (Georgia); Kigali (Rwanda); Zagreb (Croatia), Erbil (Iraq), Baghdad (Iraq), Perth (Australia), Kilimanjaro (Tanzania); Yangon (Myanmar); and Maputo (Mozambique).
Over the next few weeks and months, Qatar Airways will launch services to a diverse portfolio of new routes, including Belgrade, Serbia (November 20); Warsaw, Poland (December 5), Gassim, Saudi Arabia (7 January 2013); Najaf, Iraq (January 23); Phnom Penh, Cambodia (February 20); and Chicago, USA (April 10).
