19th October 2010, www.lankabusinessonline.com
SriLankan Airlines plans to improve connections to major Indian cities by adding several flight
s to Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore, a statement said.The island's national carrier, one of the largest overseas operators into India, will add three more flights a week to Mumbai, and one more to both Chennai and Bangalore, starting December 01.
“We are expanding our operations to India," SriLankan’s Head of Worldwide Sales Mohamed Fazeel said.
"Our aim is to provide several flights a day to all major cities there to allow travellers to choose which time of day they would prefer to fly.
"We intend to add additional flights on each route wherever possible next year.”
SriLankan also recently announced that it will be acquiring seven more aircraft by the end of 2011, including five Airbus A320s that would serve Indian destinations.
December’s additional flights would bring the Mumbai service up to 10 flights a week from the earlier daily frequency.
The additional flights would be on Monday, Thursday and Saturday.
SriLankan Airlines’ service to Chennai would rise to 15 flights a week, with three on Friday, and two on all other days.
Morning flights to Chennai depart Colombo at 7:30 a.m. and arrive at 8:50 a.m. Departure from Chennai is at 10:30 a.m, arriving in Colombo at 11:50 a.m.
Evening flights leave Colombo at 6:35 p.m, arriving in Chennai at 7:55 p.m. The return flight departs Chennai at 8:55 p.m. and touches down in Colombo at 10:15 p.m.
Friday’s third flight leaves Colombo at 12:50 p.m., and arrives in Chennai at 2:10 p.m. It leaves Chennai at 3:10 p.m, and arrives back in Colombo at 4:20 p.m.
Flights to Mumbai depart Colombo daily at midnight and reach their destination at 2:20 a.m. The return flight leaves Mumbai at 3:20 a.m. and arrives in Colombo at 5:40 a.m.
The additional three flights on Monday, Thursday and Saturday are in the evenings, departing Colombo at 4 p.m. and touching down in Mumbai at 6:20 p.m. They leave Mumbai at 7:10 p.m. and arrive back in Colombo at 9:40 p.m.
The additional flight to Bangalore would bring it up to a daily frequency.
SriLankan Airlines also has seven flights a week to New Delhi, seven to Trivandrum and 10 to Trichy.
"India is also one of the most popular destinations among Sri Lankan travellers, for everything from leisure to business and studies," the airline statement said.
"Large numbers of businessmen from both countries travel to and fro daily, with India being one of Sri Lanka’s largest trading partners."
Indian visitors make up the largest tourist segment to Sri Lanka, where the tourism industry has been booming since a 30-year war ended in May 2009.
In the first nine months of 2010, a total of 82,342 Indian travellers visited Sri Lanka, a 49 percent increase from the same period in 2009.
The airline said it is also re-launching its domestic service, SriLankan Air Taxi, in November 2010, which would enable visitors to reach any part of the island within an hour.
Also, large numbers of Indian travellers transit Colombo to destinations as far as North America, Europe and the Far East, as well as nearer regions such as the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
Sri Lanka's second international airport in Mattala, has started cargo operations, with exporters offered a 10 percent discount, state-run SriLankan Airlines said.
Mattala has a 5,000 square meter terminal.
SriLankan will operate air taxi scenic flights in Anuradhapura for residents and visitors to the exhibition. For flight information and reservations, call Customer Service hotline 1979.
Air Taxi transfers passengers from Colombo to any point in its route network within half an hour to one hour, and is now one of the quickest methods of travel from Colombo to any part of the country. Charter flights are also offered to all Air Taxi destinations.
Sri Lanka’s national carrier, Srilankan airlines has opened a restaurant in the capital city of Colombo.
“Semondu’s team of Chefs dish out an array of fusion cuisine, blending flavours, mixing and matching Asian and European cuisine, with an oriental touch” added a statement issued by the Airline.,
SriLankan Airlines Chairman Nishantha Wickremasinghe said: "We are delighted to announce the launch of services to Moscow. This will be the first time in history that our national carrier has served Russia, and will no doubt serve to greatly strengthen the close relationship between our two nations."
Tourist arrivals from Russia grew by 21% in the first quarter of 2010, and by 22% from other countries in Eastern Europe. The airline already serves five uropean cities – London, Paris, Frankfurt, Rome and Milan – with plans to commence services to several more.
"This is the third consecutive year in which IndiGo has awarded SriLankan Engineering the contract to carry out ‘C-checks’ on its Airbus A320-200 fleet, and is a significant expansion from the C-checks on 13 aircraft in 2009 and another 13 in 2010."
SriLankan Engineering has gained a reputation as the regional specialist in maintenance of Airbus aircraft at its hub at Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA).
The increased frequency of flights will be effective from the winter season of 2011-2012.
h Nuwara Eliya from Colombo and flies over some of the most breathtakingly beautiful landscapes of the hill country carried a team from the Swire Group in Hong Kong and their partners, James Finlay Group in Colombo.
The team from Hong Kong joined their colleagues in Colombo to visit James Finlay estates in Nuwara Eliya. SriLankan Air Taxi also operates air services to – Kandy, Bentota, Ampara, Koggala, Hambantota and Tangalle, the airline said.
ing airline industry of the Indian Subcontinent," the airline said in a statement.
"There is a tremendous amount of potential to bring pilot training to Sri Lanka from around this region," Frank Uit den Bogaard, CEO of SIM Industries, said.
ond flight similar for pilot training on A330 and A340 aircraft, depending on the success of the first simulator.
The construction of the hangar will be completed in the near future. Thus, the company expects to commence the helicopter operations by June or July.
Previously the company’s idea was to commence a passenger aircraft facility within the country, but since the domestic airports were on the development stages; the company selected helicopters as the starter. Another reason Senok chose helicopter facility was that it has the ability to land on any surface easily compared to passenger aircraft, he said.
With the sound economic environment and tourism industry thriving in the country the demand for domestic airlines especially from investors and tourists will increase significantly.
Last year SriLankan Catering had brought on board Saudi Arabian Airlines, an airline that has not picked up of food from for over a decade.
ircraft on March 08, 10 and 14.
unch of flights to this city.
capital Kochi on all seven days of the week. The morning flight UL165/6 will depart Colombo at 0725 on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays to reach Kochi at 0835. It leaves Kochi at 0925 and will arrive in Colombo at 1035.
lared as the year of "Visit Sri Lanka", the country opens its doors to tourists from Kochi and will also be showcased as a vibrant MICE destination.
southern port city Galle. Centuries later, thousands of others travel by road.
from January 26th to 30th has taken top billing both in Sri Lanka’s and the international literary/cultural calendar, drawing writers and visitors from all parts of the world. This year too SriLankan Airlines as the festival carrier will fly in participants from all parts of the airline’s network covering 49 destinations 31 countries. The majority of participants from Europe will fly out from London while many others will fly from Delhi.
and swoop over scenic golden beaches of Bentota with its necklace of hotels dotting the coastline. Your final destination will be Koggala – deep in the Martin Wickremasinghe country – which evokes vivid images of ‘Madol Duwa’ and ‘Gamperaliya’, classics of Sri Lankan literature and immortalised in film by the doyen of Sri Lanka Dr. Lester James Peries.
e peak tourism season and also connecting a fourth city in China, a statement said.
d at Rs. 5,000 per passenger (from Colombo and Rs. 7,000 from Koggala, the airline announced.
for families with children, an ideal opportunity to take a ride in an airplane and view the country’s scenic sights from the clouds and for visitors to the country who wish to catch an aerial view of Sri Lanka.
2011.