By. CSNA- Media Staff
Further developing the long-standing friendship between India and Sri Lanka, the current new government is using the sky and sea to build new connections.
In a bid to bring Northern province closer to the world, both sea and air routes have been further strengthened with additional flights to Palaly from Chennai (and latest from Bangalore) and resumption of the passenger ferry service between Kankesanthurai (KKS) and Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu.
The ferry service operated by Shubham Ferry Services, a subsidiary of the Subham Group, resumed on February 22, following a three-month suspension due to unfavourable weather conditions. “The resumption of this ferry service, which was first launched in October 2023, is expected to further enhance maritime connectivity between India and Sri Lanka, complementing the existing air connectivity between India and Jaffna,” an official from the Indian Consulate in Jaffna said.
With the rapid development of the Palely airport in August 2024, Alliance Air a subsidiary of Air India commenced flights between Chennai and Jaffna in December 2022 becoming the first international airline to launch scheduled flights between two countries. (India and Sri Lanka)
Due to high demand created by pilgrims, business and leisure travellers of both countries, India’s largest low-cost airline, IndiGo also commenced direct flights between Chennai and Jaffna.
Due to the aviation sector’s success in this route, IndiGo is now planning to add Bengaluru and Jaffna from next month aimed at expanding its presence between the two nations.
IndiGo is expected to deploy its latest ATR 72-600 aircraft on the route. IndiGo, the largest foreign carrier in Sri Lanka, currently operates 54 weekly flights connecting Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai, with cities such as Colombo and Jaffna. In addition, there is also domestic air connectivity to Jaffna via Ratmalana.
The Jaffna peninsula, which was virtually inaccessible a few years ago by both air and sea, also has plans for a land route link between India and the Northern province.
In addition to air and sea connectivity, the Colombo Jaffna express rail services too have commenced making Jaffna just around six hours away from Colombo.