SriLankan Airlines' inaugural flight takes off to Bangalore in southern India on July 15.

An Airbus A320 will take off from the Bandaranaike International Airport with special guests as well as revenue passengers for Bangalore, better known in recent times as the silicon valley of India.

Apart from the city’s progress in IT, it also known for its ancient palaces and gardens and its trendy night life.

"Bangalore has always been our dream in southern India," says G. T. Jeyaseelan, SriLankan’s head of commercial. ‘We have many Sri Lankans who are eager to travel to this city for different reasons. There are pilgrims travelling to Puttarpathy and White Fields, business travellers and holidaymakers. SriLankan will also generate tourism from the state of Karnataka to Sri Lanka. We are therefore looking forward to the Bangalore launch."

SriLankan will offer three non-stop services each week from Colombo to Bangalore, every Monday, Thursday and Saturday. Flying time will be approximately one and a half hours.

On Mondays the flight will reach Bangalore at 0840 hours. The return flight arrive in Colombo at 1150 hours.

The Thursday and Saturday flights have common timing and are scheduled for night departure. They will leave Colombo at 2100 hours and reach Bangalore at 2200 hours. The return flights will leave Bangalore at 2310 hours and arrive in Colombo at 0110 hours the following day.

SriLankan Airlines will soon offer promotional packages to Bangalore for its customers in Sri Lanka. SriLankan flies to five other Indian destinations — New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Trichy and Trivandrum. (SL - Press Release)