SriLankan Airlines to launch Colombo-Goa services in Oct

SriLankan Airlines will launch its services to Goa from Colombo in October. The twice a week flights, of two hours' duration, will be operated on Mondays and Saturdays.

With this, Goa will become the airlines' tenth destination in India and the 50th globally.

Peter Hill, CEO of SriLankan Airlines, said in a statement that, "SriLankan Airlines has positioned itself as the link between India and the rest of the world, and has been steadily expanding its presence in the country during the past few years. We are very excited about commencing services to Goa, which we see as having excellent commercial prospects."

"SriLankan Airlines would continue to explore further opportunities by increasing its services to India, and is currently considering launching services to more cities as well as increasing the frequency of flights to existing destinations," added Barry Brown, chief commercial officer.

SriLankan Airlines is currently the largest foreign carrier operating to India, with around a hundred weekly flights to New Delhi , Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad , Chennai, Trichy, Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode and Kochi.

Bilateral travel between India and Sri Lanka has registering an all-time high, with Indians being among the most frequent visitors to Sri Lanka.

Besides, Sri Lankans are the third largest visitors to India after Americans and Britons. The SriLankan Airlines statement added that Colombo became a destination of choice for many Indian companies for meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE tourism).