Cinnamon Air introduces 9th scheduled destination, Bentota

Friday, 17 October 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Cinnamon Air, Sri Lanka’s premier domestic airline, announced the commencement of daily scheduled flights between Colombo’s Bandaranaike International Airport and Bentota, a popular tourist destination on the southwest coast of the island, from 1 November. The inauguration of scheduled services to this ninth inland destination, once again along with code-share partners SriLankan Airlines, cements Cinnamon Air’s commitment to further developing the tourism infrastructure on the island by constantly evaluating and expanding its current scheduled route network.

The flights will be operated by Cinnamon Air’s luxurious eight-seater Cessna 208 Caravan Amphibian aircraft which will set down on the Bentota River Water Aerodrome after a total journey time of 25 minutes, thereby affording customers travelling in either direction between the international airport and the coastal destination, a tremendous time saving. Commenting on the introduction of the new scheduled services, Cinnamon Air Director Romesh David stated: “Consistent feedback received from many hoteliers in the region indicated that whilst road networks to the popular Bentota/Beruwala strip on the southwest coast have developed significantly after the Southern Expressway was opened, depending on the time of day most customers still spend anywhere from 2½ to five hours transferring between the airport and this resort area and vice-versa. The 25-minute air transfer option direct from and to the international airport will undoubtedly be a welcome and valuable enhancement to the popular offering of the many hotels and boutique properties on this part of the south coast.” All Cinnamon Air scheduled flights operate in code share with SriLankan Airlines, consequent to which they are also be available for sale throughout the SriLankan Airlines network and all Travel Agents around the world via Global Distribution Systems, under a “UL” designated flight number. Cinnamon Air completed one year of scheduled passenger operations on 1 July. In the past year, Cinnamon Air has carried over 4,000 passengers on 900 scheduled flights to eight regular destinations and operated over 175 charter flights to 20 destinations. 10 of the destinations served were water aerodromes, making Cinnamon Air the first domestic carrier to commercially serve such a diverse range of inland points in Sri Lanka and the only scheduled airline to do so out of Colombo’s international airport. Cinnamon Air, owned and operated by Saffron Aviation Ltd., is a joint venture between Sri Lanka’s largest listed conglomerate, John Keells Holdings, MMBL Leisure Holdings (a part of the Mercantile Merchant Bank Group) and Phoenix Ventures (parent of Phoenix Industries and the Brandix Group, Sri Lanka’s largest garment manufacturer). The airline operates a fleet of two Cessna 208 amphibian aircraft and one Cessna 208B Grand Caravan aircraft, with scheduled services to key inland points in Sri Lanka. Cinnamon Air also offers charter services to and between all Airports and Water Aerodromes in Sri Lanka. The airline is based out of Katunayake where it operates a dedicated domestic terminal (within the precincts of the BIA) and also has its own purpose built hangar and maintenance facilities. Contact details: Reservations team, Tel: +94 112475475 or e-mail: [email protected] or [email protected].