Last month, the Sri Lankan Cabinet gave its approval to a proposal made by Transport and Civil Aviation Minister Arjuna Ranatunga which will allow the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CAASL) to grant licences to foreign airlines to operate domestic flights.

The one-year temporary licences will be granted to airlines from countries with which Sri Lanka has bilateral air services agreements and is intended to boost existing domestic services.

Any foreign carriers showing an interest in operating domestic flights will be able to operate from Colombo International, Colombo Ratmalana, Batticaloa, Jaffna, and Hambantota airports.

According to the ch-aviation schedules module, there are 11 commercial airports with domestic flights currently in Sri Lanka. Carriers providing scheduled services between these are airports is limited to just Cinnamon Air (C7, Colombo International) and FitsAir (8D, Colombo International).