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| Tuesday, 27 August 2002 |
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Two leading airlines to resume flights to Colombo By Shirajiv Sirimane Several European airlines have decided to resume flights to Colombo following the improved political and economic situation in the country. Accordingly, two leading airlines Aeroflot and Czech Airlines will soon start flying to Colombo, airline industry sources said. They said that more Eastern European tourists are keen to visit Sri Lanka following the ongoing peace process. "This has been a boost to the travel industry and it has enabled more airlines to resume flights to Colombo. This is the first time that a Czech Airlines has decided to fly to Sri Lanka. The airline will operate two flights (Airbus) a week on Tuesdays and Saturdays from October, a spokesman for the airline said. The Russian carrier Aeroflot too has decided to resume their flights from October. The airline has decided to operate one of its A 310 flight a week every Monday to Moscow. The flight is scheduled to leave on Monday at 6 pm. The return flights too will be on Monday and it will have a stop over in Male. Aeroflot temporarily terminated their flights to Sri Lanka two years ago. During the time the airline operated two flights a week. Travel industry representatives welcomed the move and said, "The resumption of European flights will be a major boost to the local tourism industry. Several travel industry groups are promoting tourists from the Russian countries. But, the lack of direct flights was a hindrance to the growth of tourist arrivals from these countries." "With the resumption of Aeroflot flights as proposed, our tourism industry can expect favourable results," they said. Meanwhile, Cathay Pacific which added a fourth flight to Colombo early this month is looking forward to increase the number of flights once again. "Colombo has become a good and demanding destination for us and we decided to increase the flights to meet the growing demand," a spokesman for Cathay Pacific said. Meanwhile, a senior official of the Civil Aviation Department said that international airlines feel that Colombo is a commercially viable destination. He said that earlier poor passenger traffic was seen in Colombo mainly due to the unhealthy political and war situation in the country. "But with the peace initiative and the war risk surcharge removed airlines are once again coming to Sri Lanka," he said.
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