Short Affair

SriLankan Airlines is offering two free day stopovers for transit passengers, to see the sights and sounds of Negombo and Colombo.



SriLankan Airlines is offering two free day stopovers for transit passengers, to see the sights and sounds of Negombo and Colombo. Around 61,000 passengers transit through Bandaranaike International Airport each month, but SriLankan expects only 500 to make use of the two week offer.

The national carrier has thrown in room vouchers to participatory hotels – Dolphin, Blue Oceanic, Browns Beach and Tamarind Tree – in Negombo.

"The new offer aims to encourage Colombo International Airport's emerging hub status and is inclusive of airport transfers and transfers to the city to indulge in a bargain shopping spree of branded apparel, or to catch a bird’s eye view of the city’s landmarks," SriLankan said Wednesday.

SriLankan Airlines, which is 43.

8 percent owned by Dubai's Emirates Airlines, posted a Rs. 5.6 bn after-tax profits for the financial year ended March 31, 2004.

Emirates picked up an equity stake when SriLankan was privatised in 1998, together with a ten-year management contract an