SriLankan plans more flights

Effective from Dec. 13, SriLankan Airlines will introduce three more flights from Riyadh to Colombo, bringing the total number of flights per week to five.
Announcing the introduction of the new flights at a press conference held in Riyadh on Tuesday, Lal Perera, head of Worldwide Sales of the SriLankan Airlines, said the increased frequency would facilitate flight connections for passengers traveling from Saudi Arabia to Sri Lanka with convenient connections to India and the Far East.
Besides four flights from Dammam and three from Jeddah, the airline will now operate five days a week except Fridays and Saturdays from Riyadh.
As head of Worldwide Sales at SriLankan Airlines, Lal Perera said “The Middle East is considered one of the fastest growing regions in the world. SriLankan Airlines, being at the forefront of the international air transportation industry, sees great potential in facilitating the growing demand for air travel. Therefore, the increased frequency to Riyadh reflects the commitment of SriLankan Airlines in providing world class service under the theme “you are our world”.
To advertise this development, he said the airline would offer a “buy-one-get-one-free” for passengers traveling from Riyadh to Malaysia, Singapore or Thailand starting from Dec. 13. This offer is valid until Jan. 31, 2013. Accordingly, passengers who purchase a ticket from Riyadh on UL270 during this period to any of the above destinations would be entitled to receive a free ticket for an accompanying person.
He pointed out that during the first 10 months of this year, 16,103 Saudis flew SriLankan to Colombo, whereas during the same period only 5,513 have gone to Male.
SriLankan currently flies to 11 Middle East destinations and operates a total of 59 flights a week to Kuwait, Dammam, Riyadh, Muscat, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Doha, Jeddah, Amman and Sharjah. The airline’s full network spans 64 destinations in 35 countries worldwide in Europe, North America, Canada, India, the Far East and Middle East.
He also said that plans are under way to connect Calicut soon and the code-sharing Mihin Lanka would have its weekly flight to Madurai in India's Tamil Nadu state. “With the new flight to Madurai, we would be covering all points in Tamil Nadu,” he added.
SriLankan operates an all Airbus fleet consisting of A320, A330 and A340 aircraft to the Middle East, which includes a comfortable fleet furnished with luxurious interior, leather seats the latest state-of-the-art Panasonic EFX inflight entertainment systems in all Business and Economy Class seats.