SriLankan Airlines to resume services to Oman

Muscat: SriLankan Airlines, one of the oldest airline operations to serve the Omani capital, returns to Muscat after one year, as part of its enhanced focus on the Middle Eastern travel market.
As part of this initiative, the airline will start with five flights a week from Colombo, the airline announced at a press conference on Thursday.
Accordingly, from October 30, SriLankan Airlines will operate a modern fleet of A320 and A321 aircraft to Muscat five days a week, except on Wednesday and Friday.
“The flight from Muscat will depart at 2230 hours and arrive in Colombo at 420 hours; depart Colombo at 1845 hours and arrive Muscat at 21.20hours,” Deepal Pallegangoda, country manager of SriLankan Airlines in Muscat, told the Times of Oman.
The airline also recently launched a dedicated Arabic language website to book tickets online.
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.
“Traffic between Muscat and Colombo includes labour and leisure markets, with travellers expected to take advantage of SriLanka’s convenient onward connections to a wide range of Indian cities and to South East Asia,” he said.
More than 14,000 Omanis visited Sri Lanka in 2015.
In December, the airline plans to start operating seven flights a week. “We will have an increased frequency in December as we want to give our passengers increased connectivity,” Pallegangoda added.
Mihin Lanka
SriLankan Airlines comes into Muscat after its sister airline—Mihin Lanka—decided to cease operations in this all sectors. All tickets booked for Mihin Lanka will be transferred to SriLankan Airlines.
Mihin Lanka started flights to Muscat from October 25, 2015, operating four weekly flights, which later became a daily flight and has ferried over 40,000 people in the last one year, according to Pallegangoda.
“Omanis prefer to travel to Sri Lanka during holidays. Sri Lanka and Oman have good ties. We are hoping to carry more passengers in 2017.”