MADURAI: SriLankan Airlines on Sunday began its Colombo-Madurai-Colombo daily flight service.
This follows Mihin Lanka withdrawing its flight service that was being operated on code-sharing basis with SriLankan Airlines, reports The Hindu.
At a low-key ceremony held at Madurai airport, the airlines’ Manager for Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, S.P. Mohan, lit the lamp to mark the inauguration.
Mihin Lanka has been operating Colombo-Madurai-Colombo since December 2012. Initially, it operated flights for three days in a week and went on to increase it to a daily service. Mr. Mohan said that with the additional flight service, SriLankan Airlines had become the foreign airline with the largest network in India. It would be covering 11 cities in the country.
“SriLankan will provide better connectivity to passengers of Madurai to various global destinations,” he said. He added that there was a huge demand from passengers from Middle East for flight connectivity to Madurai.
Airport Director V.V. Rao, Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry office-bearers S. Rethinavelu and Jagatheesan, Musthafa of Madurai Travel Club were present. Mittal, executive director of Translanka, the ground handling agent for the airline, was present.
Mr. Rethinavelu said the chamber had made a representation seeking additional flight services between Colombo and Madurai during morning hours considering the huge demand.
