Singapore and Sri Lanka reached an open skies agreement on Tuesday allowing airlines from both countries to operate between them without restrictions. The pact, which comes into effect immediately, complements an open skies agreement on cargo services reached last month, a Singapore government statement said. Singapore has been aggressively moving to forge open skies agreements with other countries as competition heats up from regional airports in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand.
The Southeast Asian city-state has secured open skies agreements with countries such as the United States and New Zealand but negotiations with Australia have stalled.
Singapore Airlines Ltd currently operates 7 weekly Singapore-Colombo flights while Sri Lankan Airlines runs 8 weekly services.
Sri Lankan Airlines also has a code-sharing agreement on 4 services on this route with Emirates Airline, which owns a 44-percent stake in the Sri Lankan carrier.
Singapore Airlines said separately on Tuesday it was expanding its code-share agreement with Deutsche Lufthansa, to include more destinations in Spain via Frankfurt.