SriLankan to fly Seoul thrice a week

SriLankan Airlines will launch flights to South Korea from November this year. UL plans to operate three flights a week. Minister of Civil Aviation, Piyankara Jayaratne said that these flights would have a stop over in Bangkok. “The airline is on a mammoth expansion plan and we are looking at adding new destinations and increasing frequencies,” he said.

Speaking to Daily News Business after the opening of Sri Lanka’s first water aerodrome built by the Ministry of Economic Development, in Dandugam Oya Ja Ela he said that Sri Lanka Airlines would also increase their domestic air taxi landing points from 16 to 20. “We will add Ja Ela, Diyawanna Oya, Jaffna and Kayts to the airline radar by the end of the year,” he said.

The minister also disclosed plans to do away with SriLankan air taxis and re place them with amphibious aircraft which could land both in water and land. “The lease agreement for the air taxis would cease by the end of the year and then we would call for tenders to lease amphibious aircraft,” he said.

The minister said that their aim is for a passenger to get one air ticket from US, the UK or Ukraine to fly direct to Jaffna or any other local destination via the sea plane operations in Ja Ela,” he said.

He said that due to the construction of this aerodrome the river mouth was widened and the Economic Ministry has also been able to find a lasting solution to the floods that occur in the area. Meanwhile Chairman, Sri Lanka Tourism Dr. Nalaka Godahewe predicted that sea planes would be one of the most preferred modes of tourist travel in the future and requested the private sector to invest in them.

“We would be adding over 1,000 rooms in Arugam Bay and Pasikudah areas and guests are bound to patronize sea planes to reach these destinations,” he said.

The flights provide the advantage of reaching destinations in less than 85% of the time spent on surface travel. Adventure seekers will enjoy the aerial view of many breath-taking natural locations in Sri Lanka from 3,000-3,500 ft above ground level.

Chairman SriLankan Airlines Nishantha Wickramasinghe said the water aerodrome will be of great convenience to SriLankan Airlines’ in-coming international passengers, who can board float-planes that will take them direct to domestic points in the country and also for departing passengers to reach the airport without the hassles of surface travel.

SriLankan Airlines currently operates Twin Otter float planes to transfer passengers within minutes with each float-plane having a seating capacity of 15 passengers and equipped to take-off and land on specially identified lakes, lagoons and reservoirs across the country.

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