New Delhi: As the Sri Lankan economic crisis deepens, Air India has decided to reduce its India-Sri Lanka services from 16 flights per week to 13 flights per week from April 8 due to less travel demand. Other Indian carriers are also planning to reduce frequency to Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis since the country's financial crisis of 1948. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has imposed a ban on social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram after declaring a nationwide public emergency.
According to Air India, it is currently operating 16 flights a week — daily flights from Delhi and nine flights a week from Chennai. “In the new schedule, while the frequency from Chennai will remain untouched, flights from Delhi will reduce from seven to four per week,” an Air India spokesperson said. "Four flights from Delhi instead of seven effective April 9 due to poor loads," the spokesperson noted.
AI 283 on the Delhi-Colombo sector will now operate on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays from April 8 to May 30. AI 284 on the Colombo-Delhi sector will operate on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from April 9 to May 31.
After Air India, other Indian carriers are going to take a call on calibrating their Sri Lanka flights’ frequency this week as the demand has fallen sharply. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in its summer schedule has approved 128 flights to and from India to Sri Lanka.
Indians topped the island’s tourist arrivals in 2021 with over 56,000 visitors. Tourism picked up in February after Sri Lanka resumed visa-on-arrival facilities for foreign tourists, including those from India. The travel agents and aviation sector are worried a lot who were hoping to improve the financial health of the sector after the reopening of the economy and decreasing cases of COVID-19 after the Sri Lankan government imposed an emergency in the Island. (Agencies)
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