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| Tuesday, 13 January 2004 |
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Serendib Express adds more flights to Trincomalee by Shirajiv Sirimane Serendib Express, one of the three domestic airline operators in Sri Lanka will add two more flights to Trincomalee (China Bay) from February. This is the first domestic airline to fly commercial flights to Trincomalee operating on Friday, Sunday and Monday. According to Director Marketing and Administration Serendib express (pvt) Ltd., Dharshana Herat - Gunaratne this is in response to growing demand from hotels in the area. "Many local and international travellers to Trincomalee requested the airline to operate a weekend flight so that they could visit Trincomalee on Saturday and return on Sunday." The flights would be stop over flights bound for Jaffna. They will leave Ratmalana at 10.30 a.m. and arrive in China Bay at 11.05 a.m. Departure from China Bay would be at 1.30 p.m. According to Gunaratne a unique advantage the airline has is the ground transport they provide, where they pick up passengers from Colombo and drop them at any location in Trincomalee for no extra fee. The airline one of the youngest but fast growing domestic airlines is now hoping to extend their flights to Ampara and Weerawila. Meanwhile, Serendib Express will also go for International Cargo operations from next month. The airline is planning to operate to India, Middle East, Maldives, and Southeast Asian countries to promote exports and imports from Sri Lanka . "We are looking at passenger operation from March." As per the company's developmental plans, Serendib Express is poised to start its cargo operation initially with Boeing 727-200 aircraft having cargo capacity of 12-pallets accommodating over 20 metric tons of cargo. According to a company official the company which will be shortly renamed as Serendib Airlines, plans to add more standard and long-range cargo in the near future to promote regional export market in addition to expanding in to regional and international passenger market to encourage domestic tourism. The company feels that, due to the current peace process, the island has gained momentum to achieve its true potential in developing more tourism activity. To promote its domestic activity; the airline plans to add more comfortable and advanced regional aircraft, in addition to operating its existing fleet of two Metro III and Cessna 404 to Sri Lanka's various tourist and economic development regions. Serendib operates two US built Fairchild Metro III (19 seaters) and 01 Cessna 404 (09 Seater) for their domestic flights. Their crew consists of a mix of Western, European and local Cabin crew consisting of former SriLankan Airlines staff. Serendib Express, operating under Aero Lanka Private (Pvt) Ltd., a BOI company, is a subsidiary of a US-based aviation company. |
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