Normalcy with the dawn of peace:

Qatar Airways mulls third daily flight to Sri Lanka

Hiran H. Senewiratne

Qatar Airways is exploring the possibility of increasing the frequency of daily flights to three in Sri Lanka with the dawn of the peace and normalcy here, said its Regional Manager Rajeewa Jayaweera.

“With the current peaceful situation in Sri Lanka we are now closely and seriously looking at new opportunities to launch the third flight connecting USA,” Jayaweera told Daily News Business. At present the airline is operating two daily flights to Doha.

He said the airline is flying to more than 80 plus destinations and Sri Lanka is one of their main destinations in their promotional campaign. With the dawn of peace and normalcy Sri Lanka could be promoted as a major tourist destination in the future. The countries in their promotional campaign list are Goa, Seychelles, Cairo, Bangkok and Sri Lanka, he said.

The airline is now in the process of consolidating its network in their flying routes and is satisfied with the performance despite the global financial crisis. Therefore, before the end of this year the number of destinations will be increased to ninety, he said.

Qatar Airways caters to all segments in the target market including corporate and leisure travellers in all destinations where they operate. They are very satisfied with the flight occupancy in the country, Jayaweera said.

Jayaweera, the Regional Manager for several countries including Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and the Maldives said that Sri Lanka should have bigger runways in airports especially the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) to attract next generation flights such as A 380, A 350 and B 767 Dreamliner flights and it would start delivering the Qatar Airways fleet in the near future. This airline is one of the few five star airlines in the world.