New Delhi: Sri Lanka's national carrier SriLankan Airlines today said it is planning to increase its operations to and from India by adding 50 new flights to its already existing 100 weekly flights over the next five years.

"The airline has been steadily increasing its operations in India since 2003. We will increase our operations to India by 150 flights per week in next five years," SriLankan Airlines Chief Executive Officer Peter Hill told reporters here.

It recently started direct flights between Coimbatore and Colombo last month and presently connects 11 Indian towns with Sri Lanka. The carrier operates flights from Chennai, Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Trichy, Trivandrum, Kochi and Calicut, Hill added.

Apart from connecting 11 Indian cities with Sri Lanka, the airline is also planning to start direct operations from India to parts of Europe and middle-east. "The airlines wants to connect south Indian cities to Europe, Middle east and Far east. We also have the option of explore 15 tier II Indian cities like Varanasi, Bhubaneshwar, Port Blair, Guwahati, Jaipur and others," SriLankan Airlines, Head of Worldwide Passenger Sales Manoj Gunawardena said.

SriLankan carried 1.1 million passengers to and from India in 2006-07, which accounted for 35 per cent of the airline's global traffic.

As part of its celebrations on starting 100 weekly flights from India, it is offering 1,100 return tickets between Colombo and its 11 Indian destinations at Rs 100 each.

The airline has a global code share agreement with Emirates which presently accounts for 46 per cent of its overall load-factor. The agreement is supposed to end by March next year.

Source : PTI