SriLankan Airlines to add Hyderabad, Coimbatore, Visakhapatnam to network

SriLankan Airlines on Wednesday announced that it will be adding three southern Indian cities -- Hyderabad, Coimbatore and Visakhapatnam -- to its network from July this year.

This move by national carrier of Sri Lanka and a member of the One World airline alliance is part of its efforts to strengthen its network in India.

The new connections are expected to bridge the demand of both Indians and Sri Lankans who have been looking for seamless connections across the region for work and leisure purposes, in Sri Lanka, India and onward destinations, it said.

The introduction of these new routes, along with the scheduled frequency increases in its Delhi and Mumbai services, will see SriLankan Airlines operating over 120 flights a week to 14 cities, thus becoming the carrier that serves the highest number of points in India.

The flights to three southern cities will commence from July 8. Hyderabad-Colombo flight will depart from Hyderabad at 9.50 a.m. and arrive in Colombo at 11.45 a.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

The flights between Coimbatore and Colombo will be operated every Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday.

Visakhapatnam-Colombo flight will run over Monday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.

"India has been a vital part of our strategic expansion where we will continue to explore potential to consolidate our presence. At a time the industry observes consistently developing travel movements around tier two cities as opposed to the traditional hubs, it is timely to offer these connectivity options to our valued passengers.

"The new routes also reinforces our commitment to strengthen the deep commercial and bilateral ties between India and Sri Lanka," said SriLankan Airlines Chief Commercial Officer, Siva Ramachandran.

Currently serving key Indian cities such as New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Tiruchirappalli, Trivandrum, Cochin, Madurai, Varanasi and Bodh Gaya, SriLankan Airlines will be introducing four additional frequencies to its daily services from Delhi and Mumbai in July this year.

--IANS

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