SriLankan Airlines to launch Coimbatore service from 0ct 29

Mumbai, Oct 9 (UNI) SriLankan Airlines is all set to launch air services between Colombo and southern Indian city of Coimbatore from October 29.

Combatore will be the 11th Indian destination for the Airlines, which include three in Kerala--Thirunanthapuram, Kozhikode and Kochi, and Chennai and Trichy in Tamil Nadu, a airlines communique said today.

The airline will initially operate four flights a week on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday using Airbus A320 aircraft.

The airlines' claimed that it carried a staggering 1.1 million passengers to and from India from April 2006-March 2007, which constitutes 32 per cent of the airline's total global traffic.

Commenting on the proposed new sector, Peter Hill, CEO of SriLankan, said, '' SriLankan Airlines has positioned Colombo as the gateway to India , and we are continuously increasing our services there. This includes the addition of more and more cities across India to our route network, and we are proud to add Coimbatore to this list.'' Manoj Gunawardena, Airlines' Head of Worldwide Passenger Sales, said, '' our new service to Coimbatore will provide convenient access to and from all regions in our international network and we are confident that the new service would be useful to many segments particularly business traveller, leisure traveller, those travelling to visit relations and friends and for employment.'' UNI