SriLankan Airlines is increasing its capacity to the southern Indian
city of Calicut by gradually upgrading its flights to wide-bodied Airbus
A330 aircraft.“We have already upgraded our Wednesday flight, effective 01st March
2006, and we will be progressively upgrading flights on other days too,”
said N. Prabaharan, Regional Manager Sri Lanka & Indian Subcontinent.
“This will provide greater convenience for both transit passengers from
the Middle East, and those traveling between Calicut and Colombo.”

SriLankan has eight flights per week from Colombo to Calicut, with one
flight every day and two on Thursdays. The airline’s A330s carry 295
passengers in a configuration of 12 Business Class and 283 Economy Class
seats, compared to 140 seats on its A320s.

 

“We have also brought forward the flight time for the convenience of our
transit passengers from the Middle East,” said Mohamed Fazeel, Regional
Manager Middle East, Africa & CIS. “We have a large number of flights
from the Middle East arriving in Colombo between 5:20 am and 6:20 a.m,
and our 80-minute A330 flight to Calicut departs at 7:40 a.m. This
ensures a rapid transit in Colombo but still provides sufficient time to
shop at Colombo’s well-stocked Duty Free Shopping Complex.”

 

“A330s have a much larger baggage capacity than the A320s, which will
allow us to accommodate all paid excess luggage,” said Prabaharan.

 

“Later this year, we will be providing even more convenience for
passengers from the Middle East transiting Colombo en route to Indian
destinations, by upgrading many of our 1-stop flights from several
destinations into non-stop flights to Colombo,” said Fazeel.

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