Amidst a recorded inflow of 1,224,948 tourists from January to 4 August, a cluster of airlines has shown their interest to expand flight operations, while a number of charter flights have shown interest to resume operations to the island, The Daily Morning Business learns.

Speaking to The Daily Morning Business, Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CAASL) Air Services and Traffic Rights Manager Ishara Gunawardana said: “A number of charter operators will begin their operations at both Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) and Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) airports for winter.”

He pointed out that Red Wing Airlines stopped their charter flights operations last May, yet they have mentioned they will restart their operations from October 2024.

Additionally, Azur Air has already shown the interest to restart the charter flight operations from Russia to Sri Lanka.

Usually, charter flights operate for the winter season, thus in the current summer season there are no charter operations taking place.

Upon inquiring about the expansion of flight operations with a huge tourists inflow that has reached more than half of 2024 tourist arrivals target (2.3 million), Gunawardana stated that currently they see the existing airlines are expanding their operations.

Furthermore, airlines such as Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways have increased their operations.

Etihad Airways had increased their flight operations up to four, and recently, Qatar Airways started their sixth frequency, one more than their previous five.

In addition, CAASL forecasts that there’s potential in some other new airlines from Asia Pacific, where currently they are having discussions with.