More Flights, More Aircraft for SriLankan Airlines

SriLankan Airlines is increasing flights to London, Zurich, Frankfurt, Paris, and Kuala Lumpur with its new northern winter schedule that begins late October 2003, with two more wide-bodied long-haul Airbus A340 aircraft joining the fleet.

The number of aircraft in the SriLankan fleet will increase to 13 - five A340s, four A330s, three A320s, and an Antonov AN12 freighter.

With the new schedule, Sri Lanka’s national carrier is increasing services to the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, from the existing five per week to a daily frequency. This flight will depart Colombo on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 0700 hours to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, and return to Colombo at 1715 hours. On Tuesday and Thursday it will depart Colombo at 0030 hours to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur and return to Colombo at 1050 hours.

The number of flights to London’s Heathrow Airport is increasing from nine to 11, with flights on Monday, Friday and Saturday returning via Male, and the rest being direct Colombo-London-Colombo operations.

Paris, which presently has three direct flights, will receive an additional flight to bring it up to four per week, three of which, on Thursday, Friday and Sunday, depart Colombo at 0640 hours and return at 0605 hours the following day. Wednesday’s flight returns via Male, departing Colombo at 1130 hours and arriving at 1325 hours the next day.

Frankfurt, which currently receives one direct flight and another via Zurich, will have three direct flights. The flights on Wednesday and Friday leave Colombo at 0710 hours and return at 0500 hours the next day. The flight on Sunday leaves Colombo at 0800 hours and returns at 0530 hours next day.

Zurich, which presently has four direct flights and one linked to Frankfurt, will have five direct flights, departing Colombo on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 0330 hours and returning at 0345 hours the next day; and on Monday and Saturday at 1125 hours and returning at 1155 hours the next day via Male.

The daily Colombo-Dubai-Kuwait flight has been rationalized to leave Colombo at 1320 hours everyday.

The airline is working towards common timings on all its routes for the convenience of passengers, and 70% of its network is already on common timings, both through winter and summer. These include the flights to Bangkok-Hong Kong, Dubai-Kuwait, Singapore-Kuala Lumpur, Damman, Chennai, Trichy, Trivandrum, and Bangalore.