Post-war Sri Lanka heralds first European carrier

Tuesday, 16 April 2013 00:32 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Post-war Sri Lanka yesterday welcomed the first European carrier with global giant British Airways’ inaugural flight touching down, resuming services after a lapse of 15 years.

Economic Devel-opment Minister Basil Rajapaksa was at hand at the Bandaranaike International Airport to extend a warm welcome to the British Airways flight and passengers, including the carrier’s CEO Keith Williams.

Minister Rajapaksa said that the decision by British Airways (BA) was an excellent indication of its confidence in Sri Lanka and the future growth potential. Tourist arrivals from Britain last year amounted to 114,218, which was only second to arrivals from India.

Minister Rajapaksa noted that BA’s resumption of flights to Colombo was a significant milestone in projecting Sri Lanka as a preferred destination and in keeping with President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s vision to make Sri Lanka an aviation hub and achieving 2.5 million tourist arrivals by 2016.

“This is an extremely exciting new route for us. Sri Lanka is experiencing a boom in tourism and the industry is expected to grow further. The addition of BA would give British tourists additional flexibility and create value for both the aviation and tourism sectors,” British Airways CEO Keith Williams said.

BA will operate flights to Colombo airport, Katunayake, from UK’s Gatwick airport via Male in the Maldives.

“We will operate Boeing 777s, long-range wide-body twin-engine jet airliners, in a three class configuration on a thrice-a-week flight schedule to Colombo,” Williams added.

BA will be operating thrice a week on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The carrier said it would be offering three classes – flat beds in Club World class, premium economy in World Traveller plus and World Traveller standard economy seats.

According to BA Regional Commercial Manager for South Asia Christopher Fordyce, Sri Lanka has emerged as one of the most popular destinations among leisure and business travellers from Britain and Europe. He observed that the country offered immense opportunities and scope in tourism and economic growth, particularly for the small and medium enterprises segment.