Air China will start a Beijing-Colombo service on October 27, 2015.
Colombo is Sri Lanka’s capital and political, economic, cultural and transportation center, and China has become Sri Lanka’s second largest trading partner and source of imports as well as its fastest growing source of travellers. Statistics released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau suggest that about 12,000 Chinese travellers visited Sri Lanka in May, up 71.9% year on year. The forthcoming Beijing-Colombo service will open up more travel opportunities for business and leisure travellers from northern and northeastern parts of China.
The carrier will also start other new routes to destinations in the Asia Pacific region including Beijing-Mumbai, Beijing-Islamabad-Karachi and Beijing-Kuala Lumpur. These new routes will bring the number of destinations in the Asia Pacific region that the carrier serves up to 19, offering more travel options and benefits to business and leisure passengers traveling between Beijing and other cities in the Asia Pacific region.
The flights, CA873/4, are operated three times a week on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The outbound flight departs from Beijing at 13:30 Beijing time and arrives in Colombo at 19:10 local time. The return flight departs from Colombo at 21:10 local time and arrives in Beijing at 07:00 the following day. The flights are to be operated with Airbus 330-300 aircraft.