SriLankan flies to Ukraine

Subashini SENANAYAKE

For the first time SriLankan airlines will launch direct flights to Ukraine Kiev city to woo the Winter traffic. The frequency would be three flights a week.

Kiev also known as Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. Kiev is an important industrial, scientific, educational and cultural centre of Eastern Europe.

Aviation Minister Piyankara Jayaratne who visited Ukraine last week said that if the traffic increases they will look at a daily frequency. The main reason to launch direct flights to Ukraine is to meet the 2016 target of getting two million tourists to the country.

He also disclosed that they are looking at signing an agreement with Aerosvit airline in Ukraine to have code share flights to Europe.

Presently Aerosvit services the largest route network of all Ukrainian air carriers. It includes more than 60 international routes, which connect Ukraine with capitals, business centres, and world renowned resorts in 29 countries, including Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Montenegro, Poland, Pakistan, Russia, Serbia, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, the UK, the USA, and the United Arab Emirates. With the airline's expansion plans SriLankan launched direct flights to Moscow signalling their 52nd destination. This is a daily frequency. This flight will mainly cater to tourists as well as students studying in Russia.