Singapore’s budget airliner Tiger Airways has started flying to Sri Lanka three times a week with the first flight touching down at Colombo on May 31 night, the airline said.

Tiger Airways’ Commercial Director Dave Perring (second from right) presenting a small replica of one of the airline’s planes to Aviation Minister Priyankara Jayaratne. Central Province Chief Minister Sarath Ekanayake (far left) and MAC Aviation Services Ltd. Chairman/CEO Andre Fernando look on (Pic by: Nisal Boduge)

Meanwhile, a f unction was held last Friday (June 1) to officially announce Tiger Airways’ Colombo launch which was attended by several Tiger Airways and MAC Aviation Services officials, who are the appointed General Sales Agents in Sri Lanka for the airline.

“Our inaugural flight will be the first of many as we hope to expand our flights from three to at least a flight every day,” Dave Perring, Tiger Airways’ Commercial Director addressing the gathering said.

The airline is offering flights starting at Rs.8, 600 from Colombo to Singapore and at 98 Singapore Dollars from the city state to Sri Lanka.

“The recently signed business agreements between the Singapore business community and their Sri Lankan counterparts will indeed strengthen the ties between the two countries and through this new venture we hope to facilitate that,” Perring added.

Colombo is Tiger Airways’ seventh in its growing network of destinations in South Asia, and they offer a very affordable rate for baggage. Accordingly, Tiger Airways will fly three times a week to Colombo on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.Perring went on to state that Tiger Airways’ direct service between Colombo and Singapore will provide more options at great value fares for leisure and business travellers.

Also speaking on the sidelines of the function, Andre Fernando, Chairman/CEO, MAC Holdings (Pvt.) Ltd. said that for now the flight from Colombo will be landing at Singapore Airport’s low cost terminal but from August it will be landing at the normal terminal.

Established in September 2004, the airline has steadily grown its fleet to 34 A320 aircraft with an average age of under three years. It also has two A319s that are operated independently by SEAir in the Philippines under a partner airline programme.