COLOMBO – Due to prevailing demand conditions due to the spread of coronavirus , SriLankan Airlines, the state-owned national carrier, will reduce its flight frequencies to China.
“ SriLankan Airlines will temporarily reduce flight frequencies to China according to the long-term policies of the airline,” a statement from the airlines announced.
“Following the coronavirus outbreak, Chinese outbound tourism has fallen significantly.”
“Other airlines too have reduced their flight frequencies to China due to a fall in demand, after the Chinese government limited foreign travel for its nationals.”
SriLankan said the flights between Colombo and three Chinese cities will be reduced from February 06 to March 28.
SriLankan currently operates services to Beijing, Shanghai and Canton. The number of weekly flights to Beijing is being reduced from 4 down to 2; Shanghai from 4 to 2; and Canton from 7 to 3.
The national carrier said the unused aircraft will be diverted to busier routes. This would allow aircraft normally plying busy routes to receive maintenance.
The aircraft released from flights to China will also replace the wide-bodied aircraft flying to Abu Dhabi, which are due for upgrades.
SriLankan will also attempt to increase business from other routes until end-March from the flexibility the surplus aircraft affords, the statement said
SriLankan’s route network spans 116 cities in 51 countries. As a member of the oneworld global airline alliance it also connects passengers to over a thousand cities in more than 180 countries and territories through 13 member airlines.
