Sri Lankan Air to add 15 more Indian destinations by 2012

6 December, 2007:

As many as 15 non-metros in India will be added to Sri Lankan Airlines destinations by year 2012. The airline, which currently flies to six tier II cities in the country will, by that 2012, start operations to small time cites such as Varanasi, Gaya, Patna, Lucknow, Bhubaneshwar, Ahmedabad, Pune and Vishakhapatnam.

A report said that this will be initiated as soon as the airline’s fleet size starts expanding from 14 to 30. The airline major has said that as per the traffic rights given to it, it can fly to 22 tier II cities. In the next five years, Indian passengers will see more of Sri Lankan flights in the Indian skies.

According to the report, the airline is also looking at doubling its flights on the New Delhi, Bangalore, and Hyderabad sectors by 2009. This however would be subject to renewal of the bilateral agreement since the airline is already exercising its full rights on these routes. The airline currently flies daily on these routes.

Meanwhile, a related report said that with the addition of a new flight on its Trichy sector recently, SriLankan Airlines has become the first foreign airline to operate 100 flights per week to India. The airline major will now look at expanding its network in the Indian routes. Sri Lankan Air had been covering 11 destinations in India ever since the skies were liberalized in 2002.

It is believed that Sri Lankan Air’s growing fleet would give the airline opportunities in China and Africa and increase the number of flights coming to India. The fact that one-third of Sri Lankan Airlines’ business starts and ends in India has spurred the airline to go for more. The airline serves five metros except Kolkata and it is also marketing India as a tourism destination.