"By mid-July this year, we hope to fly seven times a week to Beijing, seven times to Shanghai, four times to Guangzhou and thrice to Hong Kong, taking it to 21 flights per week," SriLankan’s chief marketing officer, G T Jeyaseelan told reporters on Friday.
"We see China as a huge potential area for development
"For Sri Lanka, China is important politically and economic-wise. We are also studying the secondary market in China. We eventually want to go non-stop to China," he said.
SriLankan now flies to Chinese destinations via Bangkok, carrying traffic both to Sri Lanka and the Maldives. China is becoming a major outbound market with a strong currency that is appreciating against the US dollar rapidly boosting the wealth of its people.
China is a large financier of state projects and was a key small arms supplier during Sri Lanka