RAK Airways aims to increase fleet to eight

Dubai: RAK Airways hopes to increase its fleet to eight aircraft within the next two years, according to its chief operating officer.

K. Ravindran said: "We have signed a purchase order for six aircraft to be delivered by 2011 onwards."

Ravidran also said RAK Airways will increase the number of destinations from the current four to about 21.

"By October, we are planning Kathmandu, Saudi Arabia, one more in India, Cairo, Amman and Damascus. So we'll have an expansion growth of around 200 per cent to 300 per cent from now until October."

He said RAK Airways is targeting 52 frequencies from the current 16. "By 2011, we'll have six to eight aircraft and 19 to 21 destinations."

Meanwhile, RAK Airways and the Sri Lanka Tourism Board launched a promotion plan for the island nation yesterday.

The Middle East, and specifically the Gulf, has been identified as one of the core markets for Sri Lanka tourism.

Dileep Mudadeniya, managing director of the Sri Lanka Tourism Board, said that in the first quarter of 2008, 80.6 per cent of tourists to Sri Lanka were from the Middle East which represents 26 per cent growth from 2007.

"Travel patterns are changing and the trend now is that many Middle Eastern travellers want to go to Asia," said Mudadeniya.

He said around 15,000 tourists from the Middle East visited Sri Lanka last year.

"And we expect this to grow 20 per cent or 30 per cent a year," said Mudad-eniya.

He said Gulf visitors travelled to Sri Lanka for the beaches, cooler mountains and the tea estates.