Celebrating Qatar Airways’ inaugural flight from Salalah to Doha are, from left: Regional Manager, Airport Services, GCC, Africa, Levant and Iran, Adnan Al Banna; Qatar Airways Country Manager Oman and Yemen, Ali Abdul Khaliq Ibrahim; General Manager of Salalah Airport, Salem Awad Al Yafaey; Deputy Governor of Dhofar, Abdullah bin Saif Al Mahrooqi; and Qatar Airways Senior Vice President GCC, Levant, Iran, Iraq and Indian Sub-Continent, Fathi Al Shehab.
DOHA: Qatar Airways has started flying to Salalah, which joins Muscat as the airline’s second destination in Oman.
With the Omani capital Muscat already served 31 times a week and the new four-a-week services to Salalah, Qatar Airways now flies a total of 35 services to Oman each week.
The latest destination is also the first of three new Middle East routes to be launched by the carrier this year with two Iraqi cities joining the network over the next few weeks.
“We are extremely delighted to have added the highly popular leisure destination of Salalah to our international network and extend our award-winning service to the people of Salalah and the Dhofar region,” said Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker.
“Already welcoming thousands of tourists every year, we look forward to playing our part to help further boost leisure and business tourism here and also provide travellers from Salalah with easy connections to more than 120 destinations worldwide via our Doha hub,” he added.
Qatar Airways Senior Vice President of GCC, Levant, Iran, Iraq and Indian Sub-Continent, Fathi Al Shehab, hosted a gathering of distinguished guests and local media at Salalah Airport ahead of the airline’s first flight to Doha.
The chief guest at the event representing the government of Oman was the deputy governor of Dhofar, Sheikh Abdullah bin Saif Al Mahrooqi.
“The inauguration of this key route opens the way for an expansion of tourism to Dhofar and southern Oman that will bring more travellers from all over the world to experience the beauty of this spectacular region and indeed make business easier in this commercial hub of Southern Arabia,” said Al Shehab.
General Manager of Salalah Airport, Salem Awad Al Yafaey, joined Al Shehab in celebrating the airline’s arrival to the Omani city.
“We are very pleased to welcome Qatar Airways to Salalah Airport,” he said, adding: “It is a delight to have the world’s best airline flying to our wonderful city. Our province has so much to offer, from the beauty of the countryside to one of the region’s busiest ports.”
The Peninsula
