Both Gassim and Taif in Saudi Arabia have been added, with flights commencing January 10, 2015 to both cities, with four weekly rotations.

The two routes will both be operated with the airline’s Airbus A320 aircraft, operating from the airline’s base in Bahrain.

Gassim is located in the heart of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and is famous for its agricultural produce. The airline will operate flights on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, departing Bahrain at 09:35am and arriving in Gassim at 10:55. The return flight will depart Gassim at 11:45am and arrive into Bahrain at 12:45pm.

During the announcement of the new routes, Gulf Air Acting Chief Executive Officer Maher Salman Al Musallam said: “Bahrain’s relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a longstanding one and our national carrier’s ties to our neighbour date back to our maiden service to Dhahran in 1950.”

Taif is a city in the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the slopes of the Sarawat Mountains are the country’s summer capital. Gulf Air plans to operate flights on Tuesday and Saturday, offering two flights per day – one afternoon and one early morning.

The flights will depart from Bahrain at both 14:05pm and 01:10am, arriving into Taif at 16:05pm and 03:10am respectively.

Return flights will operate from Taif at 16:50pm and 04:35am, arriving into Bahrain at 18:30pm and 06:15am respectively.

“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is an important market for us and the launch of services to Gassim and Taif, supplementing our Dammam, Jeddah, Riyadh and Medina operations, further demonstrates our commitment to connecting people to various destinations across Gulf Air’s network. I would like to extend our warmest thanks to the Saudi authorities for facilitating and supporting this new development that I am confident will be well-received by passengers,” Mr. Al Musallam added.

Bahrain’s relationship with Saudi Arabia is historical and dates back centuries – the kingdom is a key market for the Qatari airline, with more than fifteen million passengers travelling on Gulf Air to and from Saudi Arabia since the airline began.