SriLankan Airlines has entered into a first-ever interline partnership with Virgin Australia that will strengthen the airline’s network in Australia and offer customers extensive connections across the land down under and beyond.  

The new partnership reaffirms SriLankan’s commitment to Australia and will present customers the convenience of adding select Virgin Australia domestic or international connections to their SriLankan Airlines booking and managing a multi-airline itinerary under a single ticket, the SriLankan Airlines said in a statement.

Dimuthu Tennakoon, Head of Worldwide Sales & Distribution of SriLankan Airlines commented on the partnership by stating, “Australia has one of the largest Sri Lankan diasporic communities, which makes our Australian routes incredibly popular all year around and particularly with people travelling to visit friends and relatives or in pursuit of higher education.  This partnership will help us make further inroads in the Australian market through improved connectivity and a range of other benefits for our valued customers.” 

SriLankan Airlines currently operates daily from Colombo to Melbourne and from Colombo to Sydney on a thrice-weekly basis. The partnership will enable passengers flying SriLankan to Melbourne or Sydney to connect to the Australian cities of Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Cairns, Darwin, Hobart, Hamilton Island, Launceston, Gold Coast and Perth with Virgin Australia. Passengers will also have the option of flying beyond Australia to New Zealand, Samoa and Fiji. 

It is a win for Sri Lankan and Indian Australians living in these cities too as they can now fly out from their local city to Sri Lanka or India with a single SriLankan Airlines’ booking. What’s more, passengers can enjoy a seamless journey with a single check-in, including for baggage, at the departure airport and beat transit check-in queues.

The introduction of domestic and international interline flights options with Virgin Australia would improve the accessibility to Sri Lanka for Australian outbound tourists as well. An important customer group for SriLankan, the partnership will unquestionably help develop Australian leisure travel to Sri Lanka. It will also provide easy connections for SriLankan Airlines’ passengers flying to Australia via Colombo from the Maldives, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh, the statement added.

Since relaunching flights to Melbourne in October 2017 and Sydney in June 2020, close to a million passengers have travelled with SriLankan Airlines to Australia. The new partnership will enhance SriLankan Airlines’ service to Australia as the airline prepares to cruise to new altitudes above the land down under, according to the SriLankan Airlines.