Sri Lanka’s budget airline Mihin Lanka to end Oman operations

Muscat: Sri Lanka’s state-owned budget airline, Mihin Lanka will end Oman operations this month.
“Effective from October 30, 2016, SriLankan Airlines will be operating a flight to Muscat in place of Mihin Lanka,” Deepal Pallegangoda, country manager of SriLankan Airlines in Muscat, told the Times of Oman.
Mihin Lanka started flights to Muscat from October 25, 2015, operating four weekly flights, which later became a daily flight and had ferried over 40,000 people in the last one year, according to Pallegangoda.
The general sales agent for SriLankan Airlines is Mezoon Travels in Oman.
Riyaz Kuttery, chief operating officer of Mezoon Travel, said it is a great pleasure to welcome SriLankan Airlines to Muscat once again. “All tickets booked for Mihin Lanka will be transferred to SriLankan Airlines,” he said.
Citing SriLankan Airlines as one of the oldest airlines to operate in Oman, Pallegangoda said they had started their Oman operations way back in 1983, but had discontinued them once Mihin Lanka started its operations in 2015.
“Oman is a destination which has a growing Sri Lankan and large Indian expatriate community, who have established their careers over a long period of time. This direct flight of SriLankan Airlines will enable them and their family members to travel between Colombo, Muscat and several Indian cities with greater ease and convenience,” Pallegangoda added.
Inaugurated in 2007, Mihin Lanka has scheduled flights to 11 destinations, including India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Maldives, Muscat and Bahrain. “All these routes will now be taken over by SriLankan Airlines,” he said.