The route will be the only direct flight from London and launch as a daily service via Bahrain.

Flights will be operated by a four-class Boeing 777-200 departing year-round from Heathrow Terminal 5, landing into Dammam’s King Fahd International Airport.

Dammam is the capital of the eastern province and is known as the heart of the country’s petroleum industry. Dammam will be the third city in Saudi Arabia British Airways flies to with the airline already serving Riyadh and Jeddah with non-stop daily flights.

Moran Birger, head of sales, Middle East and Asia Pacific, BA, said, “Our customers are currently offered a limo service between Bahrain and Dammam, but the direct service will now enable seamless travel in eight hours from our home at Heathrow. More than half of Saudi Arabia’s oil and gas is produced in this region, so this new link underlines the importance of the eastern province of the Kingdom and the need for smooth onward connections to Europe and the US.”