Mihin in unexpected boost

Sri Lanka’s newly revived budget carrier Mihin Air, which resumed its operations on January 1, 2009 might be in for an unintended bonanza with opportunity to start operations to three new destinations, airline sources revealed yesterday.
The fledgling carrier, which is yet to build its route network and find adequate passenger loads to be economical has got a boost from Thursday when SriLankan on that day suspended flights to four destinations in India, namely Cochin, Hyderabad, Calicut and Trivandrum.
A spokesperson for SriLankan said the four destinations were suspended primarily because they were not so economical.
Mihin, which resumed operations with an inaugural flight to Dubai, has since added Trichy and Trivandrum to its route network on January 9 and 14.
With the SriLankan decision to suspend four destinations, it is now also eyeing Cochin, knowing that it can pick up the resultant passenger load.
Mihin CEO Kapila Chandrasena contacted in this regard confirmed that they had already sought approval from Indian Airport Authority to operate flights to/from Cochin.He said they were particularly interested in launching a service between Cochin and West Asia as many people from Kerala are employed in the Arab countries.
18/01/09 The Nation, Sri Lanka

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Categories: Foreign Jan 2009, Low Cost General Jan 2009