The first charter flight carrying foreign tourists following the re-opening of the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), will arrive in Sri Lanka with 300 passengers from Kazakhstan on Tuesday (29).
These passengers will be arriving on the Kazakhstan flag carrier Air Astana, a Tourism Ministry spokesman said.
This follows the Government lifting the ban on passenger Charter flights to Sri Lanka from today to kick start a tourism drive. Due to logistical reasons, the first flights will however arrive from December 29.
The Tourism Ministry spokesman also asserted that Russian flag carrier Aeroflot which was to fly 300 passengers to Colombo today, will now operate the flight on December 31. A spokesman for the Airport and Aviation and Services (Sri Lanka) also confirmed this date.
The person who has masterminded this tourism promotion among 54,000 tourists from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is Sri Lanka’a former Ambassador to Russia, Udayanga Weeratunga.
Commercial scheduled flights (i.e. non-charter) to and from the BIA and the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA), will start operating from mid January, despite the exact day not being finaliszed yet.
No decision has yet been made on the commencement of international flights from the Palaly International Airport, Jaffna, which is undergoing a major expansion with Indian assistance.
(Daily News)