Middle East to SE Asia
Also new route from Shenzhen to Jakarta
Middle East to SE Asia
Also new route from Shenzhen to Jakarta
August 12th, 2026. Starting on September 2nd, Riyadh Air will launch direct flights between Riyadh and Bangkok. The route will operate four times a week with flights departing on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
Flight number RX853 will take off from King Khalid International Airport, Riyadh, at 22:15 and will land at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport at 09:35 the following morning. The return journey, flight number RX854, will leave Bangkok at 16:55 and arrive back in Riyadh at 20:15.
The flight is scheduled to last seven hours and twenty minutes and will be on board a Boeing 787-9 aircraft.
Bahrain to Kuala Lumpur
Meanwhile, Gulf Air is planning to resume its service linking Bahrain with Kuala Lumpur. From what I can figure out from the airline’s website, direct flights start on September 29th but don’t settle into a regular schedule until October 25th, when the service operates daily with a ninety-minute stopover in Singapore.
Flight number GF0165 will depart from Bahrain International Airport at 23:55 and arrive at Singapore’s Changi Airport at 12:50 the next day. It continues at 14:20, touching down at Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 15:30. The return trip, flight number GF0166, leaves Kuala Lumpur at 17:35 and lands in Singapore at 18:45. It leaves Singapore at 20:00 and arrives abc in Bahrain at 23:25.
The outbound journey time will be about ten and a half hours, and the return a little under eleven hours. A Boeing 787-9 aircraft will serve the route.
Shenzhen to Jakarta
Shenzhen Airlines is poised to resume a route linking its home base in southern China with Jakarta after a six and a half year break. The new service will operate daily, commencing on October 19th.
Flight number ZH161 will depart from Shenzhen’s Baoan International Airport at 20:55 and will touch down in Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Jakarta, at 00:55 the following morning. The return trip, flight number ZH162, will leave Jakarta at 01:55 and will arrive back in Shenzhen at 08:05.
A Boeing 737-800 aircraft will operate the route, and the duration will be five hours for the outbound flight and about ten minutes longer for the return.
Picture: Wat Arun, Bangkok ©David Sutton/http://themangoroad.com
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