IndiGo Airline adds Jaffna to international route network from September
The Morning: IndiGo has announced Jaffna, Sri Lanka as the newest addition in its international route network.
The airline will start non-stop daily flights between Chennai and Jaffna, starting 1 September.
Jaffna will be the second destination in Sri Lanka after Colombo for IndiGo, making it the 34th international and 122nd overall destination in its extensive 6E network.
This strategic announcement will further strengthen the strong cultural and trade ties between India and Sri Lanka that have been marked by cooperation in the field of commerce, infrastructure development and air connectivity.
Bookings for the flight were open from 1 August.
India has consistently held the position of the top primary market for international tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka. In June 2024, Indian arrivals accounted for 25.2% of the total, with over 28,631 travellers, compared to a 26.7% share in June 2023, with around 26,830 passengers.
There is also an increasing interest for travel to Jaffna. In this context, IndiGo’s latest route announcement to Jaffna will enhance accessibility across the region. Jaffna will complement IndiGo’s existing flights to Colombo, offering travellers a secondary market access point in Sri Lanka.
IndiGo Global Sales Head Vinay Malhotra said: “We are pleased to announce Jaffna as our new destination in Sri Lanka, which will serve as a catalyst in enhancing trade and tourism between our two countries. In addition to these daily flights from Chennai to Jaffna, we also offer 30 weekly frequencies from four points in India to Colombo. This 75-minute flight would significantly reduce travel time, making Jaffna, Sri Lanka even more accessible. We are continuously working towards providing our customers with superior connectivity and enhanced accessibility to explore new horizons with our ever-expanding range of travel options.”
The demand for travel between Chennai and Jaffna is evident, with over 21,000 passengers flying the route in just nine months last year.
IndiGo’s new direct flight provides a timely boost to this resurgence, offering seamless connectivity and tapping into a key market for Sri Lanka’s tourism revival. India and Sri Lanka share a rich legacy of intellectual, cultural, religious and trade relations spanning over 2,500 years.
OSL take:
Sri Lanka and India enjoy historically strong ties that have been further strengthened by a free trade agreement (FTA) as well as a proposed Economic and Technology Comprehensive Agreement (ETCA) that would further strengthen the business, trade and investment ties between the two countries. While India is one of the key tourist source markets for Sri Lanka, the country is also a key development partner of Sri Lanka. It is these ties that have resulted in the growth in connectivity between the two countries as well. Given the expanding ties between Sri Lanka and India, the two countries continue to explore ways of improving connectivity between the two countries. As is evident by the increase in air travel between India and Sri Lanka with Indian airlines adding more destinations in Sri Lanka to its flight routes, there’s an expansion in the business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka. These opportunities cover all key economic sectors of the country as well as the development of infrastructure and supplementary infrastructure facilities required to meet the demands of a country on the expansion path and on the path to becoming a regional hub. This also paves the way for Indian businesses/investors to confidently explore the growing business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka while also looking at forming more collaborations with Sri Lankan businesses with the aim of further development. Other foreign businesses looking at doing business with India could look at setting up bases in Sri Lanka to engage with India using the preferential treatment enjoyed by Sri Lanka in India.