Qatar Airways is expected to launch domestic flights within the Kingdom shortly.

According to Al-Sharq, a local daily based in Doha, the new service will be operating under the brand, Al-Maha Airways, in the Kingdom.

Although the date of the launch was not mentioned, the report said that a fleet of nine aircraft, mainly Airbus A320, would initially be deployed to connect major cities in the Kingdom.

Qatar Airways and Saudi Gulf from the Al-Qahtani Group got the permission to operate domestic flights in the Kingdom last December.

Saudi Arabia’s national carrier, Saudi Arabian Airlines, and Flynas are the sole domestic route operators in the country.

Qatar Airways recently introduced a new service from Doha to Al-Ahsa airport. It is the third foreign airline to fly into non-traditional destinations after FlyDubai and Air Arabia.

Qatar Airways has been operating since 1997, covering Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam, Madinah, Qassim and Taif.

According to the General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA), nine domestic airports in the Kingdom receive foreign airlines. Around 1.6 million passengers have patronized these domestic airports during the last year.

 
[wpResize]