SriLankan Airlines flies direct to Colombo from Kuwait
Starting on May 1, Sri Lankan Airlines will start a direct and daily
flight to Colombo from Kuwait and vice versa . The regular route will
depart from Kuwait at 21:55pm daily and arrive in Colombo at 6:15am.
Speaking to The Kuwait Times , Lal Perera, Regional Manager in the
Middle East and Africa, said the need for the direct flight is now
essential. "The new direct flight will commence from May 1 to serve our
passengers who have been requesting a daily and direct flight to and
from Kuwait. We yield to our passengers demand. The current
Kuwait-Dubai-Colombo will be disconnected, but the direct Sri Lankan
Airlines flight from Dubai to Colombo will continue," he said.
According to Perera, one thing that Sri Lankan Airlines considered
was the growing tourism demand from the Middle East. "In January and
February 2012 alone, we noticed an increase of 42 percent in arrivals
from the Middle East. Tourism during the same period last year stood at
5,359 compared to 7,625 tourists this year. We do not have statistics
from Kuwait, but when we talk about Middle East Kuwait is one of the
wealthiest country in this region. Kuwaitis love to travel, especially
during holidays or summer breaks, so I believe the percentage of
tourists arriving from Kuwait will be higher," he said.
Passengers will henceforth be able to enjoy the speed of non-stop
flights coupled with the luxury and comfort of wide-bodied A 330 and A
340 aircraft as they travel to Colombo and beyond.
"Travelers will be treated with a real in-flight experience; from
convenience to food and hospitality." The Sri Lankan flag carrier is an
award winning airlines with a firm reputation as a global leader in
service, comfort, safety, reliability and punctuality.
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Lal Perera
speaking to The Kuwait Times |
Sri Lanka's national carrier will he operating a total of 47 weekly
flights into the Middle East effective next month. Since 1982, Kuwait
continues to occupy a top slot as some of the key points in their
portfolio are destinations in the Middle East.
"In addition to being a heavy 'employment traffic market', it also
has great potential as a Leisure and VFR (Visiting Friends and
Relatives) market. Although our flights currently operate via Dubai, the
nonstop operation to be implemented is expected to increase capacity to
Colombo and beyond by 100 percent," he said.
Sri Lankan Airlines currently flies to seven cities in India-
Bangalore, Chennai, Cochin, Delhi, Mumbai, Trichy and Trivandrum, with
four flights per week. "This means that we're further ensuring speedier
outbound passenger travel from Kuwait to a wide range of South Indian
destinations and Far Eastern destinations, including Singapore, Kuala
Lumpur, Bangkok and Jakarta via Colombo. This is a boon to our hundreds
of commercial travelers, who require speedy business transactions with
their partners in these destinations," Perera added.
The dawn of peace in Sri Lanka has been claiming significant numbers
of passengers travelling to Sri Lanka for tourism purposes and or even
business purposes. "Sri Lanka's geographical location makes it ideal for
most expatriates to enjoy dual holidays in Colombo and the Far East of
Colombo, and the Maldives enroute to India for a nominal additional
amount", he pointed out.
Asked whether the on-going Arab Spring uprising has affected their
business in the Middle East, he said, "No. We are absolutely not
affected or anything. In fact, to cite an example was our Bahrain route.
Before, we only have four flights per week, but now we added one to
become five per week. So we don't feel any affect at all in our
airlines.
In Muscat, we have only two per week we increased it to four. In Doha
we went from five to seven. The latest one is splitting the fight from
one route to two in Kuwait and Dubai. So you see, we haven't been
affected negatively at all. We do not have flights to Syria or Iran, so
we have not affected by what is going on those places," he said. Sri
Lankan Airlines recently completely transformed the cabin interiors in
their entire fleet. The new look will have a subtle, traditional Sri
Lankan aura to its plush interiors, and new state of the art
entertainment. Travelling Business Class on Sri Lankan Airlines is
luxury in the skies, with the introduction of flat bed seats in business
class cabins on its wide bodied A 330 aircraft.
The underlying idea of the business class cabin upgrade is primarily
to modernize the cabins and create a tranquil atmosphere in a
traditional warm ambiance of a Sri Lankan home in the sky. Sri Lankan
Airlines operates a fleet of 22 aircraft - including wide-bodied A 340
and A 330 aircraft, and mid-range A 3205.
Sri Lankan Airlines currently operates to 60 destinations in 33
countries across the globe from Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East
and South Asia to Southeast Asia, the Far East, Australia, North America
and Canada. Kuwait Times
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