Jet, Sahara prepare for Sri Lanka foray

With the government allowing private domestic airlines to fly to Colombo, both Jet Airways and Air Sahara are firming up plans to deploy capacity between India and Sri Lanka.

Air Sahara plans to operate daily lights from both Mumbai and Chennai to Colombo, while Jet Airways plans to operate a daily flight from Chennai to Colombo and start five flights a week from both Mumbai and Bangalore to the Sri Lankan capital.

Besides Colombo, the two private airlines are, however, yet to present a request to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to fly to other destinations there.

The government has also decided to extend the open skies policy till the end of March this year. The decision to allow private airlines to Colombo was part of the joint communiqué issued in October last year during the Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe's visit. Initially, the civil aviation ministry had informally said the two domestic carriers could start operations by December 25.

The Sri Lankan national carrier, Sri Lankan Airlines, was also offered the rights to operate daily flights to Indian metros and unlimited flights to 18 non-metro destinations specified by the civil aviation ministry. Sri Lankan Airlines has already ramped up its India operations.

In December last year, the government had also opened up the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) countries, including Pakistan, to the two domestic private airlines.

The civil aviation ministry has been dragging its feet on dividing the flights among the three domestic players. Sahara had flown a reconnaissance flight into Colombo in November.

Another proposal to allow private domestic carriers to fly to global destinations, except the Gulf countries, was turned down by the Cabinet on security grounds.