COLOMBO, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- China Eastern Airlines on Friday said it will resume its direct flights between Shanghai and Sri Lanka's capital Colombo from Oct. 27 in a bid to increase passenger traffic between the two countries.
In a statement, Wan Yangchen, General Manager of China Eastern Airlines, Colombo branch, said following the suicide attacks on April 21 in the island country, the airline suspended flights between Shanghai and Colombo from May 1, but with security now returning to normal, the airline would begin operations again from Oct. 27.
"However even during this period, China Eastern Airlines continued to operate flights between Kunming and Male via Colombo thereby attracting visitors to Sri Lanka. But we are now happy to resume our direct flights between Shanghai, Colombo, Shanghai, as the airline connects Sri Lanka to over 80 percent of Chinese cities via Shanghai and Kunming," Wan said.
She further said this year was the 9th year China Eastern Airlines had been operating in Sri Lanka.
China has emerged as one of the leading destinations for Sri Lanka tourism since the end of the country's civil conflict in 2009.
