NDTV: Air India will resume its additional flight on Delhi-Colombo route from 15 July, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Sunday. The national carrier had stopped operating the additional flight after the 21 April Easter Sunday terror attack in Sri Lanka that targeted churches and luxury hotels, killing total 258 people and injuring 500 others.
In Colombo, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday pledged India’s solidarity with the people of Sri Lanka as he visited the St Anthony’s church, one of the sites of the attacks, and paid tributes to the victims of the deadly terror strikes.
Out of 258 people killed, 11 were Indians.
Puri said in a tweet on Sunday, “Honouring the spirit of friendship & mutual cooperation between India & Sri Lanka, & to express solidarity with the people of the island nation, I am delighted to announce the resumption of additional Air India flight between New Delhi & Colombo from 15th July 2019.”
“Having spent several years as a young diplomat posted in Colombo, Sri Lanka & its wonderful people will always have a cherished place in my life. Also not many people know that I was in Colombo when Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi summoned me to Delhi to join his team in September 2017,” he added.