SriLankan Airlines' Hyderabad-Colombo flight from Wednesday

SriLankan Airlines, the national carrier of Sri Lanka, will start its non-stop Hyderabad-Colombo flight from Wednesday.

GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd. (GHIAL), which operates Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) here on Tuesday announced Colombo as a new destination in its international network.With its fleet of A320 aircraft, SriLankan Airlines would operate four days in a week - Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday - service to Colombo.

Sri Lanka is a popular tourist destination in South Asia and India is the number one source market.

The short duration non-stop flights (approximately 2 hours) and convenient flight timings from Hyderabad will entice tourists especially the large section of young travellers in and around Hyderabad to explore Sri Lanka as a popular weekend getaway, GHIAL said in a statement.

"The new service by SriLankan Airlines will help passengers from 13 catchment cities from the South and Central Indian region to have direct connectivity to Sri Lanka, which has emerged as a top tourist destination for Indians," said its CEO S.G.K. Kishore.

RGIA handled 15.24 million passengers in 2016-17, registering a growth of 22 percent in total passenger traffic and 23 percent growth in air traffic movement over previous year.

The airport connects 18 international destinations with 16 foreign and 3 Indian carriers and 10 domestic carriers connect Hyderabad with 35 domestic destinations.

--IANS

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