India’s SpiceJet to fly to Sri Lanka from Nov 15, Aeroflot Oct 09

India’s Spice Jet will begin flying to Sri Lanka from November 15, boosting arrivals from India while Russia’s Aeroflot will also return from October 09, Tourism Minister Harin Fernando said.

Sri Lanka has carried out a promotional campaign in India taking 50 travel industry representatives to key cities to talk to Indian travel industry representatives, he said.

IndiGo Air is already flying to Sri Lanka, he said.

Air India has also doubled frequencies, Fernando said.

The moves are expected to boost arrivals from India.

India became the top generator of tourism after Sri Lanka scrapped visas to the country about 20 years ago. Now visas to Sri Lanka is easily available online.

The European Winter season is also expected to begin from mid-October, he said.

Aeroflot halted flights to Sri Lanka after courts impounded an aircraft taken from an European lessor.

The aircraft was later released.

Sri Lanka Ministers then ‘apologized’ to Russia.