SriLankan Airlines to launch services to Shanghai

SriLankan Airlines will launch its new four-times a week service to Shanghai in July 2010, the third Chinese city in its global route network.

SriLankan Airlines' Chairman Nishantha Wickremasinghe said, 'Our new service to Shanghai will open yet another chapter in the long history of excellent relations between China and Sri Lanka. We expect this service to become popular very quickly among both tourists and business travellers of both countries'.

Sri Lanka's national carrier already operates three flights a week to the Chinese capital Beijing, and another three to Hong Kong.

The new service will greatly expand SriLankan's cargo carrying capacity between China and Sri Lanka, with rapid connections in Colombo to SriLankan's global route network.

Shanghai is the world's largest cargo port, which serves China's booming export economy.

It is one of the largest cities in the world, with a population of 19 million. Located on China's central eastern coast at the mouth of the Yangtze River, it is also a major tourist destination.

The two Asian nations have greatly strengthened their centuries-old relationship in recent years with China emerging as a major business partner and investor in the Indian Ocean island nation.

A number of China's companies are heavily involved in the ongoing boom in infrastructure in Sri Lanka, including the construction of ports, airports, power stations and highways.

With the addition of Shanghai, SriLankan will expand its route network to 49 destinations in 31 countries across Europe, the Middle East, the Indian Subcontinent, the Far East, and North America.

SriLankan is rapidly expanding its route network with the island fast becoming a destination of choice among global tourists.

SriLankan has also announced that it will soon increase capacity to all of the country's major tourism markets including India, the UK, France, Germany, and Italy.

Total tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka grew by a phenomenal 68% in February in comparison to the same month in 2009.

Sri Lanka's government has announced an annual target of 2.5 million tourists to be achieved by 2016, a more than five-fold increase from the less than half a million of 2009.