Air Arabia to resume flights between Sharjah and Sri Lanka in March

Low-cost airline will operate twice-weekly flights between the UAE and Colombo from March 2

Sri Lanka is welcoming tourists once more, after closing its borders for 10 months. Unsplash

Air Arabia will resume regular flights between Sharjah and Sri Lanka in March.

The low-cost airline, which serves the Middle East and North Africa, will operate flights between the emirate and Colombo, the island's largest city, on Tuesday, March 2.

Air Arabia will operate twice-weekly flights from Sharjah to Sri Lanka on Tuesdays and Fridays via an Airbus A320. Flights will depart the UAE at 10pm and arrive in Colombo at 3.55am the following day.

Flights from Sri Lanka to Sharjah will also operate twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, via an Airbus A320. Flights will depart Colombo at 4.55am and touch down in the UAE at 8am.

Air Arabia is offering all passengers free Covid-19 insurance coverage as part of their booking, and has introduced a number of new measures to ensure health and safety protocols are followed at “every step of the journey”.

The news follows Air Arabia's announcement last month that it has resumed flights to Qatar's capital city of Doha.

Sri Lanka now open to tourists

Sri Lanka announced at the end of January that it would reopen to tourists, after closing to international travellers in March 2020.

Following a pilot programme during which approved groups of tourists visited the country in December, operations at Sri Lanka's international airports have resumed and tourists can once again fly to the South Asian destination.

All visitors travelling to Sri Lanka must show a negative Covid-19 PCR test result before flying, then take another test on arrival. Tourists must also stay in government-approved hotels for the first 14 days of any trip, although they can leave the premises for organised sightseeing purposes.

There's also a limit on the number of passengers who can fly to Sri Lanka. This is currently capped at 3,300 per day to help prevent crowding.