Qatar Airways this week introduced a short-term third daily flight between its Hamad International Airport hub in Doha and King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The flight operates for just a four week period between June 18, 2015 and July 16, 2015 to coincide with Ramadan.

The Gulf carrier has boosted its capacity into Jeddah for the last nine consecutive years and currently operates a mix of Airbus A330-200, A330-300, A340-600, Boeing 777-200LR, 777-300ER and 787-8 equipment across its two daily flights to meet demand requirements on particular days.

The new rotation is being operated using a 40-seat Premium Airbus A319LR offering only First Class availability with ‘F’, ‘P’ and ‘A’ class fares and introduces a morning departure from Doha, noon departure from Jeddah (schedule: QR3002 DOH0900 – 1120JED 319 D and QR3003 JED1220 – 1440DOH 319 D).

“The demand for premium group travel continues to grow especially during the Ramadan season, and therefore we have introduced this All-Premium A319 to Jeddah further strengthening Qatar Airways’ position as a five-star airline providing the best First and Business Class service in the industry,” said His Excellency Akbar Al Baker, chief executive officer, Qatar Airways Group.

The airline currently operates two A319-100LRs which were incorporated into its fleet in February 2003 and December 2004 and which are originally configured in a conventional two-class, 110-seat arrangement with eight Business Class and 102 Economy seats. They are now fitted with an all Business Class, single aisle, 2–2 seating configuration offering this premium First Class experience and have been used on flights to London, UK and to Yangoon, Myanmar.

Our study of OAG Schedules Analyser data looks more closely at Qatar Airways’ operation between Doha and Jeddah over the last ten years and looks at the growth in capacity on this city pair by aircraft type.