SriLankan Airlines flies to Goa, plans Jeddah services

SriLankan Airlines is enhancing its services throughout the Middle East and expanding its network by launching flights to Goa, with plans to commence services to Jeddah shortly. Kuwait will receive 10 flights per week in the winter schedule, up from nine previously. Direct flights to Bahrain from Colombo will also begin, with two flights direct and two more via Doha. This will improve capacity on flights to both Doha and Kuwait. Simultaneously, there will be an increase in capacity on existing flights to Abu Dhabi. Connectivity has also been increased between Asian and European destinations. Twice-weekly services to Goa began on October 30, making it the 50th destination of the airline, and the 10th in India. “The addition of Goa also gives SriLankan Airlines the unique advantage of being the only airline to connect passengers with the best beaches in South Asia, with regular flights to Colombo, the Maldives, Goa and Kerala,” said SriLankan Airlines’ chief commercial officer Barry Brown.

He said “As a competitive international carrier, SriLankan Airlines recognises the need to explore new markets, and to expand our services in existing ones. “We are regularly reviewing our routes to see how we can best serve our passengers and adding new services wherever opportunities arise”. The Goa services will bring the total number of Indian flights to 87 per week, maintaining SriLankan’s position as the largest foreign carrier into the country. Capacity has also been increased to two other Indian destinations, Bangalore and Calicut, by upgrading existing flights from Airbus A320s to the wide-bodied A330s. Brown added “We expect our Goa service to be very popular, and flights have been aligned to provide the shortest possible transit time for passengers on our flights from Europe and the Middle East.”

With its winter schedule coming into effect, arrangements are being finalised to commence flights into Jeddah, which would be its third destination in Saudi Arabia, the others being Riyadh and Dammam. Jeddah would be the airline’s 51st destination in 28 countries and this would increase to nine the number of destinations in the Middle East, providing greater connectivity between the region and Asia. SriLankan Airlines’ Middle East, Africa and CIS regional manager Mohamed Fazeel, said: “The impending launch of services to Jeddah, coupled with changes to the Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Doha and Bahrain schedules, will improve our services throughout the Middle East.”

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