SriLankan Airlines, Air Deccan Lanka heat up Palk straits

More convenient timings, new flights from Colombo to Chennai, Coimbatore, Cochin

BY A CORRESPONDENT
April 7, 2006

SriLankan Airlines has stepped up its operations in India on several fronts. It is upgrading its planes on the Calicut (Kozhikode) route to increase capacity, besides introducing a new low-cost airline to three Indian destinations. In addition, SriLankan Airlines has brought forward flight timings for passengers from the Middle East headed for Indian destinations and arriving at Colombo for transit.

SriLankan Airlines has also gone for an upgrade on its A330 planes on the Colomobo-Calicut route that will allow an increase in capacity on the wide-bodied aircraft. Seats will increase from 140 to 295 on the A320 flights, including 12 Business Class seats and 283 Economy Class seats. Currently, the airlines operates eight flights a week on this route.

According to N Prabaharan, Regional Manager of Sri Lanka & the Indian Subcontinent, "The increase in capacity will provide greater convenience for both transit passengers from the Middle East, and those traveling between Calicut and Colombo. The A330s also have a much larger baggage capacity than the A320s, which will allow the aircraft to accommodate all paid excess luggage."

Meanwhile, the Colombo-based new low-cost airline Air Deccan Lanka is expected to take off within the next three months, according to a Business Line report. The airline has submitted the business and route plans as also the statutory manuals to the Sri Lankan authorities to operate flights between the two countries. Following this, it will request clearance from the Indian authorities as well. It will be flying from Colombo to three Indian destinations, Chennai, Coimbatore and Cochin.

A 180-seater Airbus A-320 has already been assigned for the launch of the India-Lanka flights. The company, in which Air Deccan has a 48 per cent stake, is also looking to operate two daily flights from Colombo to Thiruvananthapuram and Tiruchi. Air Deccan cannot yet operate on international flights from India as under Government regulations it will become eligible to do so only after five years of domestic flights.

BusinessLine also quoted sources as saying, "The fares for the new airline will be firmed up in the next few days. The new entity will follow a model similar to the low-cost model followed here by Air Deccan."