Sri Lanka's Ministry of Tourism and Aviation State has asked SriLankan Airlines (UL, Colombo International) to consider resuming operations to Frankfurt International and Paris CDG, according to a report on the local Daily FT website. The national airline announced the suspension of its flights to Frankfurt and Paris in October and November 2016 respectively.
"We have started discussions with the national carrier on the need to resume services to either Frankfurt in Germany and/or Paris in France," Minister Arundika Fernando said. "These are hubs for the rest of Europe, and direct flights will boost arrivals."
He continued: “We have already submitted a proposal in this regard. Hence, if we start this flight service to Germany and France we can continue doing so.” The minister also mooted a suggestion that government subsidies might be available for the potential routes.
There are currently no direct flights from Colombo International to either CDG or Frankfurt. SriLankan currently offers just one scheduled service to Europe, its 9x weekly operation to London Heathrow, which it flies with its A330-300 equipment. The Asian carrier has a long-haul fleet consisting of six A330-200s and seven A330-300s.
