Kuwaiti budget carrier Jazeera Airways has announced the launch of a new service to the Sri Lankan capital, offering direct flights between Kuwait and Colombo twice a week, with connections to destinations served by the airline in the Middle East. 

 

Flights to Colombo will be on Jazeera’s expanding fleet of new Airbus A320neo aircraft, all equipped with HEPA air filters.

 

Jazeera Airways has also taken every safety and precautionary measure on its aircraft and at Jazeera Terminal T5 in Kuwait to ensure passengers fly safely.  

 

Since the start of the pandemic, the airline has been at the forefront of supporting government and global efforts to prevent its spread, said a top official.  

 

"Despite the current global situation for the airline industry, we are launching our first new destination for the year to serve a resilient demand for travel, especially to destinations with strong safety and health measures," remarked CEO Rohit Ramachandran. 

 

"We are now able to serve the Sri Lankan community in Kuwait as well as tourists to Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has also in place strict health and safety measures against the Covid-19 pandemic which travelers should abide by and confirm before traveling," he added.  

 

Sri Lanka re-opened to tourism on January 21 after a period of 10 months and is now a perfect holiday destination. 

 

As part of its efforts to encourage safe tourism in the country, Sri Lanka is now offering a quarantine free holiday which gives visitors a relative amount of freedom to travel within the country while still observing safety protocols.

 

Announcing the flight schedule, Jazeera said flight J9 551 will operate on Tuesdays and Sundays taking off from Kuwait International Airport at 6.45pm and arriving in Colombo at 2.35am. On return, flight J9 552 will depart on Mondays and Wednesdays from Colombo at 3.35am and land in Kuwait at 7.05am. 

 

The frequency of this service will be increased progressively over the course of this year. 

 

According to him, since the start of the pandemic, the airline has been at the forefront of supporting government and global efforts to prevent its spread.  

 

Jazeera placed its fleet at the disposal of Kuwait and participated in the largest airbridge repatriation programme ever launched by the country. 

 

"The airline operated over 60 flights bringing home over 6,800 Kuwaiti citizens from around the world, as well as converted its Park & Fly facility in record time into the first drive-through Covid-19 center in Kuwait for the use by the Ministry of Health. A second drive-through testing facility has also been constructed by the Jazeera Airways team at the Jaber Al-Ahmad national stadium," stated Ramachandran. 

 

The airline also continued to serve business without interruption by operating full-cargo flights with a capacity of up to 15 tons per aircraft to ensure businesses continuity. 

 

By the end of June, Jazeera Airways announced offering 50,000 free round-trip tickets to frontline heroes fighting the Covid-19 pandemic in Kuwait. The total value of these tickets is estimated at KD5 million, he noted.  

 

Jazeera Airways continued to operate under stringent restrictions in many countries, serving demand for travel in underserved cities, as well as launching flights in 2020 to two new destinations: Dhaka, Bangladesh and Trabzon, Turkey, he added.-TradeArabia News Service