NEW DELHI: SriLankan Airlines has increased its flight services to India by over 20 per cent in the last three months, making it the fifth largest international airlines operating in the country in terms of both number of services as well as seat capacity.

The Sri Lankan national carrier, which is also a part of the 14-members global airlines grouping, Oneworld, has added four cities — Kolkata, Madurai, Bodh Gaya and Varanasi — in its network during this period, according to a release.

With the addition of 19 flights per week to India from 88 earlier, SriLankan has surpassed 100 flights per week mark, it said. This has made SriLankan the fifth largest foreign carrier operating to India in terms of both number of flights and total seat capacity, with 107 flights per week, the release said. The Colombo-headquartered airline now operates to 11 Indian cities with the addition of four more destinations in October/November this year, it said. New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Trichy, Trivandrum, Bangalore and Kochi are the other airports SriLankan carrier operates to in India. The expansion is a clear signal of the recent strategic shift by the airline to heighten its focus on its network in South Asia, the Middle East and the Far East. SriLankan airline has been rapidly modernising its all-Airbus fleet with the addition of brand new wide body A330-300 aircraft and is scheduled to take delivery of five fuel-efficient A320neo and A321neo aircraft in 2017, the release said. A total of 2,78,017 Indians visited Sri Lanka in 2015, making India the largest tourism generating market to the island country, Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority has said. This number has increased by 14 per cent year-on-year in the first nine months of 2016 with 2,52,165 Indian visitors, according to the release.–PTI