SriLankan will increase its flights to India

NEW DELHI: Operations to and from India account for a third of revenues for Sri Lankan Airlines. No wonder the carrier has decided on an aggressive expansion plan for this country. Not only has it increased flights per week to India to 100, but is also looking at expanding operations to 15 of India’s tier I cities in the coming year.

Flights from Kolkata are on the cards. As of now, it operates from 5 of the 6 metros besides major cities in the South.

CEO Peter Hill asserts that it has already become the first foreign airline to operate 100 flights per week from India.

On SriLankan’s radar are cities such as Patna, Lucknow, Varanasi, Amritsar, Gaya, Guwahati, Vizag, Bhubaneswar, Ahmedabad and Pune.

But, how will the airline’s plan materialise if a management contract with Emirates, which holds 43.5% stake with the Sri Lankan government holding the rest, fails to get signed by March next year? Hill says, in case the contract is not renegotiated by then, there could be some alteration in the airline’s plans for India.

The Sri Lankan Government is seeking greater control this time, since many within the country have questioned its wisdom to let a foreign operator manage the national airline. Emirates has already ruled out raising stake beyond the 43.5% mark.