India’s Alliance Air to operate flights from India to Palaly and Batticaloa Airports in Sri Lanka
Air India’s associate airline, Alliance Air, is reportedly looking at operating direct flights to both Sri Lanka’s northern Palaly Airport and Batticaloa Airport in the country’s eastern province.
The move will help both these regional airports in Sri Lanka to go international while it would also be Alliance Air’s first international route.
An official from Air India Colombo office has been quoted in the local media as saying that some of the Air India staff members recently visited both the airports to inspect the progress of the airport.
According to reports, Alliance Air is a subsidiary of Air India and operates services to 52 Indian destinations with a fleet of 18 ATR 72-600 (70/72 Seater) and 1 ATR 42-320 (48 Seater) aircraft.
Flights are operated mostly to Tier-2 and Tier-3 Cities or those which link these cities to the metro hubs. Alliance Air has 800 flight departures per week and 114 flight departures per day.
It has been further reported that Alliance Air will first look at operating flights to Palaly from Chennai and later would add Batticaloa.
Direct flights would be initially operated to Indian destinations, Bangalore, Cochin, Mumbai and Hyderabad.
Meanwhile, FITSAIR, a local airline operator has also stated earlier that it will operate international flights from Palaly to Indian destinations.
FITSAIR operated International Passenger charter flight from Ratmalana to Visakhapatnam on its 70 sector – ATR 72 aircraft recently. FITSAIR is also an international freighter operator operating out of Katunayake cargo hub serving the region and they currently operate passenger flights out of Ratmalana and Colombo to domestic destinations, local media reports state.
OSL take:
The government of Sri Lanka is engaged in a programme to uplift the country’s airport and aviation industry by launching a programme to develop regional airports in several parts of the country. The regional airports are aimed at further developing Sri Lanka’s connectivity to foreign destinations and trading markets. It has also helped boost the country’s tourism industry and the operation of many international airlines to the island. Foreign businesses could therefore confidently explore business opportunities in Sri Lanka’s airport and aviation industry as well as the opportunities in developing supplementary infrastructure facilities.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/02102019/Z_3 |