SriLankan Airlines is set to recommence its night flight operations following improvements in security at Colombo’s Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA). The night flight schedule, which was temporarily suspended in May, will restart on September 15th in time for the peak travel period for expatriates heading home for the Holy Month of Ramadan.
Ms Desiree Premachandra General Manager of SriLankan Airlines for UAE & Russia is keen to detail the efforts that are being made by all who have an interest in the carrier’s operations in order for it to recommence its night time service. “We are working closely with the Tourist Board and other travel industry partners on the various initiatives taken to promote traffic into Sri Lanka at this time,” he says. He continues by saying that although SriLankan Airlines night time operations were suspended in May, the successfully reconfigured daytime operating schedule has resulted in a reconfiguration with minimal disruptions to the number of flights we operated.
It was concerns over security relating to the civil conflict in Sri Lanka that led to the cancellation of all SriLankan Airlines flights operating to and from BIA between the hours of 9pm and 5am; an action that had resulted from extensive discussions with the country’s Ministry of Ports and Aviation authorities and the Department of Civil Aviation.
The carrier is keen to extend its current daytime schedule until this time in order to ensure a degree of certainty to its passengers during a peak period for holiday traffic; particularly for Sri Lankans visiting family and friends. Any sudden changes prior to this date could cause severe problems with travel plans and result in the loss of onward connections on other airlines, which are also experiencing heavy loads at this time. The Airline further explained that it is still engaging in discussions with its insurers regarding the anticipated recommencement of night time operations.
About SriLankan Airlines
SriLankan Airlines is expanding its Middle East operations, most recently adding two weekly services to Jeddah to its network starting March 27. The airline also increased its frequencies into Qatar and Bahrain recently, taking the airlines total frequencies into the Middle East to 45 flights a week. The airline has also recently opened up new routes into Asia adding a third weekly service to Goa and launching double daily services to Mumbai earlier this year. The growing number of services to India takes SriLankan Airlines closer to the 100 flights a week mark, and reinforces its position as the foreign carrier with the most number of frequencies into ten key cities across India.
