:- By Preeti Puja
The airlines aim to enhance its presence into India alongwith growing network for transit operations from Colombo.
Sri Lanka has always been a top destination for Indian travellers as its national carrier SriLankan Airlines has long made it a mission to bring India closer to Sri Lanka and the world. With close to 90 weekly flights between the two countries, and more to come, the airline has never been more energised about setting the pace for India’s expanding global footprint. For SriLankan, India is its largest market, accounting for nearly 30 per cent of the airline’s total passenger traffic and 23 per cent of overall visitor arrivals to the island.
Building on this momentum, the SriLankan Airlines is poised to enhance its India operations in 2026 through targeted strategic initiatives which will strengthen its connectivity and reinforce the relation between the two nations.
In the current year, SriLankan Airlines will increase its weekly India services and further start new direct flight to the tenth Indian destination at Ahmedabad. At present, the airlines operate direct flights to Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kochi, Trivandrum, Madurai and Tiruchirappalli.
With the addition of Ahmedabad, SriLankan Airlines will serve six of India’s eight major metropolitan hubs, further diversifying its India portfolio and boosting route economics by capitalising on year-round demand and strong cultural ties between the two countries. These initiatives are projected to increase Indian passenger traffic across the airline’s network by up to 12 per cent this year.
SriLankan Airlines is also establishing itself as one of the top choice for transit flight options with around 30 per cent of Indian passengers had travelled further destinations via Colombo. The airline provides seamless connections between the cities it serves in India and the Middle East, the Maldives, the Far East, Europe and Australia through its own and code share services.
Indian travellers account to approximately 40 per cent of total tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka, a contribution that is deeply significant to the national economy. SriLankan Airlines works closely with the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority and other trade partners in supporting national tourism ambitions.
Dimuthu Tennakoon, Head of Commercials, SriLankan Airlines, while addressing the media at a Delhi event highlighted that due to the geographical advantage we are so lucky to be positioned close to India. We operate 89 flights across nine destinations in India and this year we want to expand our operation with addition of Ahmedabad and further increase the frequency to the existing destinations. This new addition will be after five years and this is due to the result of lot of work we did on deciding which destination we should start. But finally, we decided that the most important city, right now for SriLankan would be none other than Vibrant Gujarat.
Ahmedabad –Colombo Schedule
Once the regulatory approval will be received, SriLankan Airlines will operate from Colombo to Ahmedabad with four frequencies a week. The aircraft to be used for this sector will be the Airbus A320 neo with two types of seat configuration, business and economy with flight timing of approx two hours.
SriLankan Airlines has plans to increase frequencies to all the existing sectors into India and is expected once they receive the two new aircrafts with the first one expected in June 2026. At present, SriLankan has 23 aircraft in operational status which comprises of 10 wide-body and 13 narrow-body aircraft and with the new addition, it will have 25 aircraft in its fleet.
Indian Tourist flow to SriLanka
Sri Lanka has the largest tourist from India which accounts to 23 per cent and in numbers its 531,000 tourists arrivals with most number from Kerala. The rest of them around 30 per cent transit from India to Sri Lanka to countries like Australia, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore. Many transit passengers also prefer SriLankan for travel to Indonesia and Korea.
Establishing pre-Covid flight schedules
Before the pandemic, SriLankan Airlines used to operate 125 weekly flights to India but now they operate only 90 weekly flights. However, they target to enhance the numbers up to 200 but to reach that goal, new aircraft will be required and that seems difficult to be achieved by 2028 -29.
The SriLankan Airlines booking statistics shows that about 60 per cent of bookings by Indian passengers are made through indirect channels, including traditional trade partners and Online Travel Agents, while the remainder are made directly through SriLankan Airlines’ channels. As it expands its digital capabilities, SriLankan Airlines continues to nurture its trade partnerships, serving travellers across both channels pan India.
