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Our Bureau

Move is part of tourism promotion

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Mumbai Jan. 24 SriLankan Airlines has added a second daily flight out of Mumbai as it looks to clear the crowd of stranded Indian tourists to Sri Lanka.

"Loads out of Mumbai show that we are leaving people behind," Mr Senaka Fernando, Regional Manager, Indian Subcontinent & Maldives, said.

India currently provides the largest number of tourists to Sri Lanka, with 1.3 lakh tourists visiting the island nation last year, Mr Fernando said.

The airline also plans to use the additional flight to help meet its cargo demand. SriLankan Airlines carried 1 lakh tonnes out of Mumbai last month, 85 per cent of which were fabrics and pharmaceuticals, said Mr Dimuthu Tennakoon, Manager, Maharashtra and Gujarat.

The new flights will begin from February 2, departing from Mumbai at 2:55 p.m. and arriving in Colombo at 5:20 p.m. The return flight leaves Colombo at 11:45 a.m. and arrives in Mumbai at 2 p.m. The airline chose to add an additional flight instead of using a larger aircraft for its existing flight to cater to the leisure traveller. With this additional service, SriLankan Airlines will operate 94 flights a week to 10 destinations in India. The flights are part of the airline's campaign to promote tourism in India by using Colombo as the hub. The airline's leisure arm, SriLankan Holidays, is also offering 2 nights/3 days or 3 nights/4 days' packages starting at Rs 9,999 in February.

In addition, SriLankan Airlines has the rights to operate in 18 secondary cities, including Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Varanasi and Patna.

"We are 94 not out and before the end of the year we will be 100 not out," Mr Fernando said.

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SriLankan adds one more Mumbai service

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