SriLankan Air to connect Jeddah

As part of extending its global network, SriLankan Airlines is adding the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah to its destinations.

Jeddah will be the airline's 51st global destination. It will launch twice a weekly service to Jeddah, starting March 27.

Significantly, the addition of Jeddah to SriLankan Airlines' West Asia network is also expected to complement the airlines' Indian network, spanning 10 destinations. SriLankan is the largest foreign airline service to India with 94 weekly flights, according to Mohamed Fazeel, its regional manager (Middle East).

It may be noted that the Kerala government had earlier last year signed a memorandum of understanding with SriLankan Airlines, under which Kerala Tourism had announced a special bonanza for passengers flying on SriLankan to Kerala from October 2006 to March this year.

"We are continuously looking for new opportunities to enhance our service and adding new destinations and increasing frequencies is a vital component," Fazeel added.

A SriLankan Airline source in Thiruvananthapuram said that the airline had signed a code-sharing agreement with Saudi Arabian Airlines on February 27, for services to Jeddah on Tuesday and Friday. Jeddah is SriLankan Airlines' third destination in Saudi Arabia and the ninth in the airline's West Asia route network, the source added.

According to Manoj Gunawardena, head of worldwide passenger sales, the 5 lakh-plus Sri Lankans working in Saudi Arabia can now look forward to enhanced air travel facilities between Colombo and Jeddah.

Last year, the airline had expanded its services to the West Asia, increasing frequencies to a number of destinations, including Dubai and Doha, in a strategy to offer greater convenience to passengers travelling through its Colombo hub, the source added.