Bahrain Air will launch services to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, from next month, it was revealed.

The services will start on June 11, with four flights a week, said managing director Ibrahim Al Hamer.

He made the announcement at the opening of the Bahrain International Travel Expo 2008, at the Bahrain Air stand.

"On Mondays and Sundays, our flights will leave Bahrain at 11pm and on Wednesdays and Fridays, at 11am," said Al Hamer.

"Jeddah will be Bahrain Air's 10th destination. Our plans to launch services to Saudi Arabia have received an enthusiastic response."

Bahrain Air's ninth destination will be Cochin, Kerala, starting on May 26.

The airline has registered a steady growth since its inaugural flight took off from Bahrain International Airport on February 3 this year to Dubai, Al Hamer told the GDN, our sister publication.

"Bahrain Air is now negotiating with two aircraft manufacturers to purchase six brand new aircraft at a cost of BD102 million ($270 million), to be added to its existing fleet of modern aircraft, " he revealed.

"It will enable the company to add more services and expand its network to many more destinations in and outside the region."

Two more new destinations will be inaugurated in June and October 2008, with two weekly flights to Aleppo and daily flights to Kuwait respectively.

Moreover, Bahrain Air plans to launch two weekly flights to Bangladesh's capital Dhaka in October 2008 as well.

"We launched the airline during a lean travel season and are experiencing an increase of 20 per cent in the capacity in the second month itself," he revealed.

"Recently, we reached a 50 per cent capacity in certain sectors and are positive that we will have optimum capacity by the time the travel season is on," he added.-TradeArabia News Service