QATAR Airways will fly 10 times a week between Doha and Kuala Lumpur from June to August to meet the increase in demand for seats during the peak summer holiday season.

Qatar Airways senior manager for commercial operations, Far East and Australasia Marwan Koleilat said: "The number of foreign visitors coming to Malaysia has been rising steadily following the successful Visit Malaysia Year 2007 promotions worldwide.

"The extra flights mark our continued efforts to support the extended Visit Malaysia Year 2008 and to further promote Kuala Lumpur as a premier holiday destination which translates to 2,600 weekly seats inbound to Malaysia."

He said the increase was in expectation of a passenger surge during the peak summer season, adding that to-date, the carrier has been receiving healthy bookings from Middle East holidaymakers.

Malaysia has been ranked the No. 1 destination for Middle East tourists and 233,927 visited Malaysia between January and November last year.

"The extra flights will also meet the improved traffic to Middle East as the number of Malaysian business travellers to Middle East has also increased sharply over the past few years due to stronger bilateral trade between Malaysia and the Middle Eastern countries," he said.

Qatar Airways flights to Malaysia began in December 2001 with three flights a week and progressively increased to daily flights. The airline began flights four times a week to Bali via Kuala Lumpur International Airport in March last year.