SriLankan Airlines (UL, Colombo International) and Air Arabia (G9, Sharjah) have announces their initial plans to serve Sri Lanka's new second international airport in the country's south, Hambantota, ahead of its commercial opening. The airport was originally scheduled to open last October but this has now been delayed to March 19. SriLankan will operate twice weekly to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi, Malé and Riyadh with A330-200s and A340-300s with all of these flights originating and terminating at Colombo International (essentially adding a stop at Hambantota on the way). The two weekly flights to Bangkok continue onwards to Beijing Capital while one of the two weekly return flights originates at Shanghai Pudong with the other flight also operating from Beijing. Air Arabia plans to launch a four times weekly A320-200 service from Sharjah to Hambantota from May 19.