Mihin Lanka opens branch in Jaffna

by Shirajiv SIRIMANE

In a bid to regionalise operations and make the airline even more accessible to the public, Mihin Lanka will open its branch at Stanley Road, Jaffna today 10 a.m. The budget airline opened its first regional office in Kurunegala last month.

"With the opening of this office people in Jaffna will no longer have to come to Colombo to obtain visas and purchase air tickets to fly to Indian destinations. We will provide all these services at our Jaffna office and the opening of the branch would help people in the area to a great extent," said CEO, Mihin Lanka, Kapila Chandrasena.

He said that Sharmila Travels, a company with over 25 years' experience has been selected as the General Sales Agent for Jaffna.Chairman, Sharmila Travels, V. Muthusami said that in addition to providing Mihin Lanka tickets to Kuwait and Dubai and Indian destinations they will also offer a host of other travel related facilities. "We will also offer special tour packages to India through our international branch in Chennai," he said.

He said that Mihin Lanka was keen to launch Colombo-Jaffna flights from Colombo. "This service would help the Tamil diaspora to get a connection from the Colombo airport and fly directly to Jaffna," he said.

He also said that with the opening of the India visa office in Jaffna people could get their Indian visas from Jaffna, buy their air tickets in Jaffna and take the Mihin Lanka flight from Jaffna to Colombo and from there to Indian destinations.

Minister of Traditional and Small Industries Douglas Devananda, and Minister of Disaster Management, A. H. M. Fowzie will be the Chief Guests at the opening ceremony.