SriLankan Airlines has made an announcement of its plans to increase direct flights between Nairobi and Colombo, the Capital of Sri Lanka, to twice weekly. The move comes as the Airline aims to satisfy increased travel demand from Asia to Kenya.
SriLankan Airlines began operating to Nairobi in April, 2021, flying once, every Thursday to Nairobi and returning to Colombo on Friday. The launch of the direct flights came at the back of the air travel pact between Sri Lanka and Kenya, a boost to local tourism and manufacturers.
According to Amitabh Anthonypillai, the Airline’s regional manager of Middle East North and Northern Africa, the growing passenger demand and near capacity cargo volumes have necessitated the move to increase the frequency. This change of frequency will be implemented with effect from October this year.
The carrier has positioned the flights with a cargo bias, with the majority of the cargo being cut flowers headed to Australia. The direct flights have cut the travel time from Nairobi to Colombo to nearly six hours, from almost 13 hours when one had to do the indirect flights through the Middle East.
SriLankan Airlines is the flag carrier of Sri Lanka and a member airline of the Oneworld airline alliance. It is currently the largest Airline in Sri Lanka by number of aircraft and destinations. The Airline operates to 113 destinations in 51 countries (including codeshare operations) from its main hub located at Bandaranaike International Airport near Colombo.