Russia's Aeroflot to re-launch flights to Sri Lanka

Colombo : Russia's flag carrier Aeroflot will re-launch regular non-stop flights to Sri Lanka's capital Colombo from October 28, Sri Lankan government's information department said on Tuesday.

The airline, which stopped flights to Colombo a decade ago, will re-introduce five weekly flights between Moscow and Colombo on the state-of-the-art Airbus A330 aircraft, Xinhua news agency reported.

The nine-hour flights will boost inbound tourism from Russia to Sri Lanka and will also be a major boost for business travel to the island country, the information department said.

It will also promote Colombo as a vital transit destination.

In addition to Aeroflot, the information department said several other major foreign airlines have also expressed an interest in flying to Sri Lanka while many existing operators have added extra capacity via bigger aircraft.