SriLankan introduces flight schedule
SriLankan Airlines' flight schedule is undergoing several temporary
changes, as the airline introduces new aircraft and retires four older
ones in its narrow-body fleet.
Two new Airbus A320 aircraft have already been acquired, the first of
which arrived on November 30, with the second due within this month.
Two more are being actively sourced, and until they arrive the
airline is temporarily suspending services to four of its less popular
destinations, Calicut, Cochin, Coimbatore and Hyderabad from January,
15, until the end of the winter season.
SriLankan will continue to serve all of the other destinations in its
route network. The airline recently commenced operations to Rome to
cater to the ethnic Sri Lankan community in Italy, and also to generate
tourist traffic to Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
The two newly acquired aircraft will join the fleet after painting of
exteriors in SriLankan's colours and livery later this month. SriLankan
Engineering at Colombo's International Airport is carrying this out.
In India the airline continues to serve major destinations including
its political capital New Delhi, commercial capital Mumbai, and its IT
capital Bangalore.
It will also maintain a major presence in Tamil Nadu, the state with
closest links to Sri Lanka, 15 flights a week to Chennai, and daily
flights to Trichy.
The suspension of operations to these four Indian cities will not
affect the country's tourism; export industry or its traveling public.
The airline will also continue to fly to the country's major tourism
generating markets in Europe. Sri Lanka's export industries will also
continue to be supported, including its exports of fruits and vegetables
to the Maldives, to which the airline recently increased flights.
All Southeast Asian and Far East destinations popular among Sri
Lankan travelers and passengers of other nationalities transiting
Colombo will remain unchanged.
The country's labour traffic to the Middle East will also not be
affected as there will not be any significant changes to schedules in
that region.
Re-fleeting is an ongoing process for the airline's narrow-body
fleet.
The airline has an exemplary record in standards and safety, and has
won two global awards from Airbus Industrie for operational excellence
on the wide-body A330 and A340 aircraft. |