Spicejet to start Chennai-Colombo service tomorrow

"The flight is scheduled to take off from Chennai at 1.30 am and will reach Bandaranaike International Airport, Colombo at 2.50 am," Spicejet said in a statement here.

SUN TV Network Chief Kalanidhi Maran will flag off the flight.

While returning from Colombo the flight will be flagged off at 4.10 am by Sri Lankan Deputy Minister of Ports and Aviation Abeygunawardena, it said.

With this SpiceJet would operate daily flights between Colombo and Chennai, which would be further connected to other important domestic destinations of the two nations, it said.

The base fare on this route begins from Rs 999 and the airline would fly Boeing 737-800 aircraft, it said.

"We're delighted to expand our range of destinations in the South Asian sub-continent with the start of our flights to Colombo. The initial response to the launch of these flights has been extremely encouraging and we look forward to rapidly establishing our presence in the Sri Lankan market," Spicejet Ltd Director Kishore Gupta said.

The airlines completed five years of operation in the domestic market in May 2010. Over the next few months, it had planned to expand its network to Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives, the statement added.