Leading international airlines increase flights to Sri Lanka following resumption of tourism industry
Several leading international carriers from the Middle East including Emirates are reportedly increasing flights to Colombo following the opening of borders and resumption of tourism in Sri Lanka.
Emirates has reportedly announced that it would increase its services to Colombo from four to six weekly flights – with a fifth weekly flight commencing 18 February (every Thursday) and a sixth weekly flight commencing 27 February (every Saturday).
The two additional services will serve market demand and offer customers enhanced connectivity to/from Colombo, via Dubai, news reports stated.
Gulf Air, the national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain, has reportedly stated that it will resume its direct operations to and from Colombo’s Bandaranaike International Airport with two weekly flights, starting from 15 February, on its new Airbus A320neo aircraft.
Gulf Air has been operating direct flights between the Kingdom of Bahrain and Sri Lanka since 1981 and it is one of the airline’s main destinations in the Indian Sub-continent region.
Also, Flydubai has announced plans to resume flights to Colombo, Sri Lanka, with a twice-weekly service starting from 17 February. The carrier will operate flights between Terminal 2, Dubai International (DXB) and Colombo International Airport (CMB).
“We are pleased to restart our operations to Colombo, and we look forward to launching more flights to strengthen our reach in the Subcontinent,” Flydubai Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations (UAE, GCC, Africa and the Indian Subcontinent) Sudhir Sreedharan has been quoted as saying.
OSL take:
Sri Lanka’s decision to reopen its borders last month to foreign travellers has now resulted in many international airlines increasing flight operations to the island. Sri Lanka’s pilot tourism project in December brought in much needed foreign revenue while there have been a continuous flow of tourists to the country since then. Sri Lanka has been listed as a must visit destination by several leading global travel publications and has received the safety and hygienic certification making the island an attractive travel destination in the post Covid 19 world. The country’s expansion in economic activities have now opened doors to foreign business travellers as well. Foreign businesses/investors could therefore confidently explore business opportunities in Sri Lanka.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/20210217/Z_7 |