Etihad Airways to resume flights to Colombo

Abu Dhabi: Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, will resume flights to Colombo, Sri Lanka, starting in January.

The airline will operate four flights per week from Abu Dhabi to Sri Lanka's largest city and commercial capital, using an Airbus A320 aircraft.

The resumption of flights follows the recent end of the civil conflict in Sri Lanka and the boost that this is likely to provide to the tourism industry.

July and August experienced a 30 per cent increase in visitors to the island compared to the same months last year, and the Sri Lankan government is now targeting 2.5 million visitors a year by 2016.

James Hogan, Etihad Airways chief executive, said: "Sri Lanka is an established market with a strong local traffic base. We expect the resumption of Etihad flights to be welcomed by the considerable Sri Lankan expatriate community living in the UAE and those living across the Middle East region who will be able to connect quickly and easily back home via Abu Dhabi."

"Colombo will be our first new route launch of 2010, and bring to 58 the number of destinations available across our expanding global network."

The timing of the flights has been carefully scheduled to facilitate onward connections from a number of key destinations in the airline's network, including Moscow and North America.

Flight EY266 will depart Abu Dhabi on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays at 9.55pm and arrive at Colombo's Bandaranaike international airport at 3:45am the following day.

Return flight EY267 will depart Colombo on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 4.45am and arrive in Abu Dhabi at 8am the same morning.