Coimbatore: Though the civil aviation ministry inked a travel bubble with Sri Lanka, SriLankan Airlines don’t plan to resume Coimbatore-Colombo flights anytime soon.
While they plan to resume flights from Chennai, Mumbai, New Delhi, Trivandrum and Trichy from April 19, Coimbatore is not on the list, officials from the airline’s Chennai office told TOI.
Disappointed travel agents here now pray for a travel bubble pact with Singapore, which contributes almost 70% of the city airport’s international passenger traffic.
While SriLankan Airlines used to operate three to and fro flights a week, flying 900 passengers a week during pre-Covid times, 10 flights to Singapore were flying 3,200 passengers in and out. “While Coimbatore is not on our plans as of today, things may change in a few weeks,” said Chennai station chief of SriLankan Airlines.
Though Covid-19 cases in the district are galloping ahead at an alarming rate, travel agents hope that SriLankan Airlines resumes operations of Coimbatore-Colombo flights soon. “Operation of flights and adding an international connection will create some activity in the travel industry and give some ticketing business, however miniscule,” said Ganesh of Express Tours and Holidays. “Until the second wave completely subsides, we don’t see a new international connection that can give us the same kind of business that Maldives did,” he told TOI.
The fact that Sri Lanka insists on four days of quarantine is also a spoiler for tourists. “We don’t have that many students and people travelling between both countries for work or studies either,” said V C Krishnaraj, president of Travel Agents Association of Coimbatore (Taac).
A travel bubble with Singapore will generate more business, travel agents said. There were 10 flights to Singapore, with around 160 passengers each, during pre-Covid times. “That will give us a little more ticketing business because businessmen, students and people with permanent residences will travel. But this will also be minimal till the wave subsides,” Krishnaraj added.