COLOMBO, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- The SriLankan Airlines on Thursday began direct flights to Gan Island in the Maldives, becoming the only airline to operate international flights to the Gan International Airport.
The state-run airlines said in a statement that the route would be operated with four weekly flights.
"Accordingly, Gan Island operations will facilitate visitors' travel to any destination in the world via SriLankan Airlines' global route network with 102 destinations in 47 countries and 1,000 destinations under the oneworld alliance," it said.
Gan is the most populated island in Addu Atoll, the southernmost atoll in the Maldives.
The SriLankan flights will depart from Gan on every Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
The commencement of services to Gan is part of a strategic shift by SriLankan to heighten its focus on its network in South Asia of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and in the Middle East, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman, and the Far East including Japan, China, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia.
Gan is one of 11 new destinations in the Asia-Middle East region, to which Sri Lanka's national carrier is commencing services in the fourth quarter of 2016.
