BRITISH AIRWAYS - commences flights to Colombo

Shirajiv Sirimane

After a lapse of 17 years British Airways has added Colombo to their radar once again and would be flying to Colombo from April 15. This would be the first European airlines to fly to Sri Lanka after the conflict on a schedule basis. The flights would be taking off from Gatwick. The thrice weekly frequency via Male would be operated by a Boeing 777 in a three class configuration offering Club World lie flat beds, World Traveller plus Premium Economy and World Traveler seats. This is also the first time that a Premium Economy class configured flight is flying to Sri Lanka.

Chris Fordyce, Regional Commercial Manger South Asia, speaking to Daily News Business ' said that Sri Lanka is seen a rapid economic growth and the country now has the right environment for them to operate flights to Colombo. He said that tourist arrivals form UK too has increased and there were many travelers from Colombo to London as well. "There is lot of traffic both ways and this would help us to maintain a seat factor of around 80 % YoY," he said. He also said that with the introduction of their flights more European airlines would take a leaf from them and would fly to Sri Lanka. "This would be an eye opener for others to follow," he said.

Asked about the competition from other airlines he said that British Airways would beat others on superior quality product that they offer.

He said that next they would launched special holiday packages to Sri Lanka. "Currently we have printed Sri Lanka tourism attractions on the back of our tickets which would also help more tourists to visit Sri Lanka,' he added.

Gerald Victoria, Director/General Manager, Heyleys Aviation, GSA for British Airlines said that the arrival of British Airways back to Sri Lanka would add value to both the aviation and tourism sectors.

"This was one of our dreams come true," he said. He also added that there are over 85,000 Sri Lankans in UK and this air link would also help to ease their travel.