SriLankan increases flights to 230 per week

Dharma Sri ABEYRATNE

Srilankan Airlines has increased its flights to 230 per week from 172 in line with the ongoing aviation sector development initiatives, Civil Aviation Minister Priyankara Jayaratne said.

The airline has been increasing its fleet adding highly advanced modern Airbuses. Presently the SriLankan airlines operates 21 passenger aircraft including Airbuses to 61 destinations.

This is a huge achievement since in 2005 the airline had only 14 aircraft in its fleet, which conducted 172 flights to 51 destinations per week, the minister said.

Meanwhile, Srilankan Airlines will fly to South Korea for the first time in the aviation history from December this year on a decision taken by President Mahinda Rajapaksa after his state visit to South Korea recently.

This is the 63rd destination of the SriLankan Airlines.

At the initial stage the airline will conduct three frequencies to South Korea per week.

The airline will increase the number of frequencies to Middle Eastern countries to 50 from 37 per week from this month. Besides, the frequencies to countries in the Asian region, including China, will also increase to 54 from 40 by June. In addition the airline has already increased the frequencies to India from 77 to 84 per week from last April. At present, Srilankan Airlines operates to five European countries. There is a massive increase in travellers from Colombo to London and London to Toronto and back. Therefore, moves will be taken to cater to the potential market. More facilities will be included together with deploying modern flights aiming to cater to this market potential, the minister noted. Srilankan Airlines now possesses a fleet of 21 aircraft, the largest fleet in its history. It includes five A320s, five A330s, five A340s and two De Havilland Twin Otters.