Murali N. Krishnaswamy Courtesy The Hindu

Jaffna will be the second destination in Sri Lanka for IndiGo, after Colombo

Air links between Chennai and Jaffna, Sri Lanka, were strengthened on Sunday, September 1, with private airline IndiGo beginning a once daily turboprop ATR72 service (6E1177/6E1178). The former Air India subsidiary and current Government of India feeder airline, Alliance Air, also flies a daily service on the same route (9I101/9I102), with an ATR72, which it inaugurated on October 17, 2019. Jaffna will be the second destination in Sri Lanka for IndiGo, after Colombo.

An aviation source associated with the route launch said the passenger demographic for this service would be the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora visiting India from the United Arab Emirates and using Chennai as a transit point. The airline is also looking to tap tourist interest in the ‘Ramayana circuit’, covering Jaffna, Trincomalee, Kandy, and Colombo. Trader traffic and medical tourism have potential too, given the liberal bilateral air services agreement between India and Sri Lanka, the source added.

Passengers could contact the airline’s general sales agent in Sri Lanka, Acorn Aviation for travel-related assistance, the source said. With Chennai emerging as a major hub for IndiGo for the South East Asian region, the airline is preparing to begin more and new flights to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Colombo, Penang, and Siem Reap, Cambodia.