Changing Timetables

Apr.07 (LBO) - Sri Lanka will go back to five and a half hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) from the traditional Sinhala and Tamil New Year of April 14, joining the same time zone as giant neighbour India. Departure and arrival times of flights into and out of Colombo will advance by half and hour with effect from April 15th.

The first SriLankan Airlines flight to have a time change will be UL316 from Colombo via Singapore to Kuala Lumpur on 15th April 2006, the airline said in a statement.

The flight originally scheduled to leave Colombo at 0035 on 15th April will now depart at 0005 on 15th April (as per new time).

"All SriLankan Airlines flight times into and out of its overseas destinations will remain unchanged."

The airline is taking steps to change all systems based on GMT+ 6 to GMT+5 1/2 hours to be in line with the time change.

The cabinet this week approved the time change proposed by President Mahinda Rajapakse, despite some protests.

Faced with an electricity crisis in May 1996, the government advanced the clock by an hour to extend daylight hours.

In October 1996, it was brought back by half an hour to put Sri Lanka six hours ahead of GMT.

Tamil Tig