Visakhapatnam: Sri Lankan Airlines on Saturday launched its Visakhapatnam-Colombo service, the port city becoming its 12th destination in India. The service will have a frequency of four times a week. During next eight days, the airlines, considered the largest foreign airline operating to India, will be adding to its network two more destinations —Hyderabad on July 12 and Coimbatore on July 16.
“We are focusing on high return markets, as part of which we are expanding our footprint in India and China. Out of the total tourists flow to Colombo, about 17.9 per cent is from India,” Mr Siva Ramacha-ndran, chief commercial officer of Sri Lankan Airlines told media persons here. Asked what would be the next new destination in India, he said the airline was studying the Ahmeda-bad market.
“This would probably be our next new destination, for Mumbai and Delhi are already crowded,” the officer said. He expected the Vizag-Colombo service would immediately record a plant load factor of over 75 per cent, which was a “healthy level in terms of returns.” Its other services from India had a PLF of around 80 to 85 per cent.
These services to India would involve the airline’s new A320 neo and A321 neo aircraft. “These are narrow-body aircraft and we will use our broad-body aircraft on ad hoc basis depending on the demand,” Mr Ramachandran said. The airline has a fleet of 24 aircraft, including 13 narrow-body aircraft. It is acquiring another A320, which will join its fleet by the end of this month, he added.
