CATHAY Pacific Airways is resuming passenger services to and from Sri Lanka's capital Colombo starting Saturday March 30.
"Sri Lanka is an important market for passengers and cargo and getting the destination back will be beneficial for Hong Kong," said Cathay development chief Augustus Tang.
The Hong Kong-based airline plans to operate daily using a Boeing 777-300 aircraft routed through either Bangkok or Singapore, a statement from the carrier said.
Three flights a week, operating as CX703, will fly via Bangkok every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, departing Hong Kong at 1835 hrs and arriving in Colombo at 0015 hrs the next day. The return of CX700 departs Sri Lanka 0145 hrs, landing in Hong Kong at 1210 hrs.
On all other days of the week, flights will be routed through Singapore. Flight CX711 departs Hong Kong at 1615 hrs and arrives Sri Lanka 2245 hrs while the return CX710 service leaves Colombo at 0015 hrs the following day and returns Hong Kong at 1215 hrs.
Cathay suspended Colombo in April 2007 due to security concerns. The airline said it "did a thorough audit before making the decision to resume flights and is confident that new security measures in place at Colombo airport meet the airline's exacting safety requirements."
The news about the resumption of Colombo flights follows a recent announcement that the carrier is increasing services to India. Cathay Pacific will add 10 flights to Delhi and six flights a week to Mumbai by March 30. It will also launch Chennai as a destination on June 1 with four flights a week wh ile sister airline Dragonair will begin a daily flight to Bangalore on May 1.
The Cathay Pacific group will operate 53 passenger flights a week from Hong Kong to Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka by June 2008, the release added.
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