Five weekly flights on state-of-the-art Airbus A330 aircraft will operate on the following schedule:  Moscow-Colombo (all times local): – flight SU 0286 will depart Moscow Sheremetyevo (SVO) on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at 22:05, and arrive at the Bandaranaike International Airport (CMB) at 9:05.

The return flight SU 0287 will depart Colombo on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at 10:45, and arrive at Sheremetyevo at 17:30.The nine-hour flights will boost inbound tourism from Russia to Sri Lanka. The Aeroflot flights will be a major boost for tourism and business travel to the island and will also obviate the need for transit in a third country.

Aeroflot, which means “Air Fleet” is the fourth oldest airline in the world, having started operations in July 1923. A key member of the SkyTeam airline alliance, it flies to 130 domestic and international destinations using a fleet of 243 aircraft with 28 more on firm order from Airbus and Boeing.

Aeroflot, which has several subsidiary airlines and aviation companies, also operates the Russian-made Sukhoi Super Jets. Incidentally, KLM, the world’s oldest commercial airline (since 1919) has also re-started flights to Sri Lanka.

Among the other airlines planning to launch regular services to Sri Lanka in the next two months are Edelweiss (Switzerland) and Vistara (India). Several other major foreign airlines have also expressed an interest in flying to Sri Lanka while many existing operators have added extra capacity via bigger aircraft and/or more flight frequencies.