Travellers will have a nonstop option between Australia and Sri Lanka from October when SriLankan Airlines commences Melbourne-Colombo flights with Airbus A330-200s.
SriLankan said the inaugural service would take off on October 29 2017, with Melbourne chosen for its first Australian destination as about half of all Sri Lankans who live in Australia reside in Victoria.
“Given the number of Sri Lankans residing in and around Victoria, we fulfil a long felt need for a direct service,”
SriLankan chief executive Captain Suren Ratwatte said in a statement on Monday.
The daily flight has been scheduled an overnight service from Colombo, arriving in Melbourne in the afternoon the next day. The return flight is scheduled to takeoff from Tullamarine in early evening, for a late night arrival in the Sri Lankan capital.
The are no airlines flying nonstop between Australia and Sri Lanka.
Currently, SriLankan serves Australia one-stop through Kuala Lumpur or Singapore thanks to codeshares with fellow oneworld alliance members Malaysia Airlines and Qantas, respectively.
SriLankan chief commercial officer Siva Ramachandran said there had been a “steady increase” in passengers travelling between Australia and Sri Lanka on one-stop itineraries.
“Our direct services will give us a definite advantage as SriLankan is the only carrier that is able to offer connectivity of this nature at this time,” Ramachandran said. “We also offer seamless onward connections beyond Colombo to a range of destinations in the Indian sub-continent and Middle East.”
Australia’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Bryce Hutchesson congratulated SriLankan for launching the new route.
“Direct air connections between countries stimulate two-way tourism, business, trade and people-to-people exchange which are the core ingredients for a vibrant bilateral relationship,” Hutchesson said.
| Flight No | Routing | Days of operation | Time of departure | Time of arrival |
| UL605 | Melbourne-Colombo | Daily | 16:55 | 22:15 |
| UL604 | Colombo-Melbourne | Daily | 23:50 | 15:25+1 |
