Top German operator pulling out

By Natasha Gunaratne

A leading German charter tour operator is to cancel all flights to Sri Lanka from this year due to low demand, an official said. He said Condor, which had operated in Sri Lanka for four decades and was now run under Walker Tours, had not scheduled any flights for the winter season this year.

He, however, reassured it was not a permanent cancellation and the situation would be reviewed next year. Last summer, another German operator, LTEU, had scaled down its flights to Sri Lanka due to the political turmoil in the country. Up to 2004, Condor had a minimum of three flights a week with about 800 passengers.

Since the 2004 tsunami, the company has only been having one flight a week with about 270 passengers. The official said that both Condor and LTE had meeting with Sri Lankan tourism officials on the sidelines of the ITB fair in Berlin to discuss the matter but Deputy Tourism Minister Faizer Mustapha nor Tourist Board chief Renton de Alwis was present at the meeting.

SLTB Managing Director Dulip Mudadeniya who was present at the meeting said Air Berlin might amalgamate with Condor and LTU to continue flights to Colombo but nothing could be confirmed till April 10, though indications were favourable to Sri Lanka.

He said he and the Tourism industry were generally optimistic because concessions were to be offered to tour operator in areas such as landing and cargo handling.