Covering 12 cities for winter tourist season:

SriLankan to increase flights

SriLankan Airlines will increase flights this winter season to a dozen cities throughout Europe, the Middle East, the Subcontinent, and the Far East, based on its projection that passenger numbers will definitely increase following the dawn of peace in Sri Lanka.

SriLankan Head of Worldwide Sales Mohamed Fazeel, said: “Forward booking for the winter season is very encouraging and we are providing more flights to destinations where we experience high market growth. These increases in flights will be effective from October 25, and our new Milan service will be launched on December 16.” The country’s tourism industry has witnessed steady growth since its 30-year war ended in May, with tourists flocking to the island despite the global economic downturn which has discouraged air travel.

Statistics from the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority show that tourism from all countries grew by 34 percent in August 2009 in comparison to the same month in the previous year, and 28 percent in July.

In Europe, SriLankan is launching a new twice-weekly service to Milan in Northern Italy, with considerable expectations of increased Italian tourism into Sri Lanka. It is also adding two flights a week to London, bringing the number of flights to 12. The UK has long been one of the largest tourism markets into Sri Lanka, and also has a sizeable population of Sri Lankan immigrants.

In the Far East, SriLankan will add three additional flights to both Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, which will each be served by 10 flights per week.

This will also serve Sri Lankan outbound traffic to these Southeast Asian cities. One additional flight will commence to Hong Kong, which will then have four weekly flights. Four cities in the Subcontinent region will receive additional flights, to support South Asian tourism into Sri Lanka. Trichy in South India and the Maldivian Capital Male will each receive two additional flights.

Trichy will then have a total of nine per week, while Male, where SriLankan has for many years been the largest carrier, will have 23. The airline is also increasing one flight each to Bangalore and Karachi, which will then have five and three flights respectively.

The airline will increase one flight per week to Bahrain, Doha and Dammam, which will thus be served by three, five and four weekly flights respectively.

With the addition of Milan, SriLankan will expand its route network to 44 destinations in 29 countries across the world.