Article from BTNews 21 NOVEMBER 2016
SriLankan homes in on London
Network and schedule changes including the decision to make Heathrow its gateway to Europe have been announced by SriLankan Airlines following a strong year during 2016 which saw a “progressive increase” in UK passenger numbers over 2015.
The London move, which took place this month and will also include more codeshare deals, is part of a streamlining process at the carrier which has seen a rapid modernisation of the all-Airbus fleet with the addition of new wide-body A330-300s.
The airline has six of these in service along with six Dash-200s, six A320-200s and two A321-200s. It is scheduled to take delivery of five fuel-efficient A320neo and A321neo aircraft next year.
In another development, the flag-carrier has increased flights to India by more than 20% in the past three months, making it the fifth largest international airline operating in the country by number of services as well as seat capacity.
From next month, it will break new ground again with a four-a-week service between Bandaranaike International Airport, Colombo, to Gan International Airport in the Maldives, making it the only international airline to serve the remote Indian Ocean island.
The new flights will take about 2hr and will operate on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
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