Passengers will be able to fly direct from Heathrow Airport to Dammam with bmi next year, it has been announced.

The airline said that it intends to launch the thrice-weekly flights to the Saudi Arabian city in early 2008 in order to capitalise on the success of its current services to Riyadh and Jeddah.

Nigel Turner, chief executive of bmi, revealed the plans to reporters in Egypt as part of a press event that marked the start of the carrier's new flights between Heathrow and Cairo.

He said that from next year the airline will be serving 41 destinations from the London hub.

The announcement comes shortly after bmi launched a host of new mid-haul routes, including those to Ankara in Turkey and Amman in Jordan.

"Over the past two years we have established a highly successful presence in the Saudi market and are very pleased to extend services to include Dammam, strengthening our position in the region," Mr Turner commented.

The airline has also announced the launch of a codeshare agreement with EgyptAir involving services between Heathrow and Cairo, which has resulted in the doubling of the number of direct flights between the two destinations to 14 a week.

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