The Hindu Business Line : DGCA clears Lanka flight plans of Jet, Sahara

JET Airways and Air Sahara can finally say hello to Colombo. The last hurdle for the two airlines to start regular services to Sri Lanka has been removed with the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) clearing the proposals of the airlines to operate to Colombo.

Sources in the two airlines confirmed to Business Line that DGCA permission to start services had been received.

Both Jet Airways and Air Sahara have already indicated that they plan to start services to Colombo by the end of this month.

Mr U.K. Bose, CEO of Air Sahara, had earlier said that the airline was looking to starting operations to Colombo from Chennai from April 24.

A spokesperson for Air Sahara added that details of the flights to Colombo, including the different fares that are to be charged under the various schemes, should be available with travel agents from Saturday.

While Jet plans to operate a daily service to Colombo from Chennai and offer a five-times-a-week connection from both Mumbai and Bangalore, Air Sahara plans to offer a daily service from Chennai and Mumbai, apart from offering convenient connections for passengers from different parts of the country.

The decision to encourage private sector airlines to fly to Sri Lanka was announced in the joint communiqué issued in October last year at the conclusion of the visit of the Sri Lankan Prime Minister. In January, the Cabinet had cleared a proposal allowing the two private sector airlines to operate to the six-member South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) region, including Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and the Maldives, among others.