Kingfisher Airlines launches daily direct flights from Bangalore and Chennai to Colombo

Kingfisher Airlines yesterday extended its international footprint by launching daily direct flights on Chennai-Colombo and Bangalore-Colombo routes. Both the routes will be connected with A320-200 aircraft with a seating capacity of 134 passengers (20 Business-Class and 114 Economy-Class). The airline is expecting to receive 70 per cent occupancy on an average Chennai-Colombo route, while working towards enhancing load factor rate on Bangalore-Colombo route. The flights will depart from Bangalore at 3.00 pm in the afternoon and reach Colombo at 4.20 pm, and the return flight will take off from Colombo at 9.15 am and reach Bangalore at 10.30 am. Also from Chennai, the flights will depart at 6:45 am and reach Colombo at 8:05 am, while the return flight will take off at 5:30 pm and reach Chennai at 6:45 pm.



Kingfisher Airlines has appointed Colombo based Royal Spence Aviation Pvt. Ltd. as the sole GSA (General Sales Agent) for Sri Lanka. This was announced at a press conference held yesterday in Colombo during the launch of the daily services to Colombo.� Shiva Ramachandran, Vice President � Global Sales, Kingfisher Airlines Limited; Sasha Sebastian, Country Manager � Sri Lanka, Kingfisher Airlines Limited; D H S Jayawardena, Chairman, Royal Spence Aviation Pvt. Ltd.; J M S Brito, Deputy Chairman, Royal Spence Aviation Pvt. Ltd. were present at the conference. Speaking at the press conference, Ramchandran said, �Colombo is our second international destination after London. We have selected Colombo because it is a short haul destination and the demand is increasing every year. We are looking at connecting more Indian destinations with Sri Lanka in the near future to enhance the connectivity between both countries.�



According to Ramachandran, the demand on Chennai � Colombo route has recorded an immense growth since two years. The route is showing positive growth despite the economic slowdown. He said, �Chennai � Colombo is already a mature market and we are improving the connectivity and looking at enhancing the passenger experience. Bangalore � Colombo route is still not up to the mark, but we are working in that direction to improve it in the coming years.�