Today, December 29, Red Wings Airlines of Russia commenced scheduled charter flight operations to Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) from Moscow, Russia with 398 Russian tourists to Sri Lanka.
Red Wings ranks in Top-10 of the largest Russian airlines has an extensive network of domestic and international routes but never before in the airline’s 23-year history made flights to Sri Lanka.
This season Red Wings delivers a charter program Moscow-Mattala-Moscow two flights per week operated by Boeing 777-200 planes with 412 seating capacity.
The inaugural flight from Moscow to Mattala, arrived at 09.42 a.m. with 398 international tourist. The passengers were warmly welcomed by a traditional Kandyan dance performance and presented with tea gift packs sponsored by the Sri Lanka Tea Board and Siddhalepa.
Red Wings’ Deputy Commercial Director Marina Buzina said:
“First of all thank you for your warm greetings. We are happy to launch our first Russia-Sri Lanka destination. Red Wings has great experience in so-called recreational transportation and today we added Sri Lanka to our international network. We needed hard work in regulatory, commercial, and technical fields to make this flight possible, and seeing this night hundreds of happy travelers on board our plane I can surely state it all was not in vain”.
“We are extremely happy to see that Red Wings airline commencing its scheduled charter flights initially to MRIA and we hope that the airline will continue scheduled flight operations to Mattala. Travellers from Russia will enjoy the ease of access to their preferred travel destinations in the island such as Wildlife parks, beaches, and cultural and religious attractions which has made MRIA an attractive Airport for tourism. Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) (Private) Limited is very keen facilitate the airliens and to promote Mattala as an “Exotic tourism destination airport” targeting the hot spots for international tourists such as Ella, Yala, Arugam Bay, and Udawalawa, etc.” said Major General G A Chandrasiri, Chairman, Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) (Private) Limited.
This route development will boost the tourism industry in Sri Lanka, especially in the post-pandemic period. Russia has been one of the most reliable and friendly destinations for Sri Lanka to attract tourists and for many decades Russian inbound tourism has been showing its great potential as an important source market for the development of the travel and tourism industry in Sri Lanka.
