Daily Mirror - Print Edition

Cinnamon Air launches seasonal daily scheduled flights between Colombo and Southern Coast

05 Oct 2015 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}      




Cinnamon Air (www.cinnamonair.com) announced the launch of seasonal daily scheduled flights between Colombo, Castlereagh Reservoir and the Southern Coastal city of Koggala from 15th December 2015 until the 31st of March 2016.

Cinnamon Air will operate its luxurious and powerful Cessna 208 Caravan Amphibian aircraft on the scheduled flights between Colombo, Castlereagh Reservoir and the Koggala which will drastically reduce the travelling time between the Tea Country and the Southern Coast.

In addition to stress-free and significantly shorter journeys, passengers traveling with Cinnamon Air will be treated to stunning aerial views of the island as well as the thrilling experience of taking off and landing on water

Flights will originate from Cinnamon Air’s luxurious domestic terminal at the Bandaranaike International Airport at 10am and will travel to Castlereagh Reservoir, reaching the tranquil hill station at 10:30am. The flight will then depart for Koggala at 10:45am, touching down on the Southern Coast at 11:15am.
Flying between Castlereagh Reservoir and Koggala takes a mere 30 minutes compared to approximately 6 hours by road, and affords clients an effort-less way by which to explore nearby destinations including the historical city of Galle, a famed UNESCO World Heritage Site, as well as the peaceful beaches of Thalpe and the growing surfing and whale-watching hub of Mirissa. 

Commenting on the introduction of the daily scheduled flights between Castlereagh Reservoir and the Southern Coast, Malik Fernando, Managing Director, Resplendent Ceylon stated that “these new flights would be a boon to the time strapped luxury traveller and will be the lynchpin of our unique tea and sea experience.

Ceylon Tea Trails guests would be dropped off on the lake in front of their bungalow and later whisked to Cape Weligama via Koggala, overflying tea carpeted mountains and Adams Peak enroute, an amazing experience”

Romesh David, Director, Cinnamon Air, stated that “The introduction of a daily scheduled service on this route highlights Cinnamon Air’s commitment to continually expanding its domestic route network and its efforts to develop Sri Lanka’s growing tourism infrastructure and image as a complete and easily explore-able holiday destination”.

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, owned and operated by Saffron Aviation (Pvt) Limited, 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 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.