New High Commission and improving access to South Asia from Down Under
Posted on March 26th, 2017
Dr. Chula Rajapakse MNZM, Spokesperson, United Sri Lanka Assn. Lower Hutt, New Zealand.
The Editor,
Dompost.
Dear Editor,
The announcements on Friday by the NZ government of plans to open a High Commission in Sri Lanka is welcome news to all. Not only trade but other mutually beneficial activities like tourism and travel would also benefit from this .
However, we wish to point out that difficulty of air access between the two countries is the major impediment to growth in these areas now.
Though direct flying time between Auckland and Colombo should only be about 10 hours, the current shortest flight availabilities requires flying via Singapore or Kuala Lampur , making it a twenty hour flight including transit time.
The irony is that there are two planes one from Emirates and one from Quatar Airways that fly non stop directly over Colombo on their way to Dubai and Doha respectively, daily.
If either of these could be persuaded to stop over in Colombo, this shortfall could be corrected with little additional cost and arguably more revenue to the air line while also providing a welcome brake in the fifteen hour world’s longest flights.
Additionally , with appropriate connections from Colombo, this would make it the shortest access from down under to all of South Asia.
Dr. Chula Rajapakse MNZM
Spokesperson,
United Sri Lanka Assn.
Lower Hutt, New Zealand.