Qatar Airways will increase the number of seats it offers to and from Sri Lanka next month, with the introduction of a new flight and larger aircraft.

On 1 August 2017, the Doha-based carrier will introduce a fourth daily to Colombo. In addition, two of the four daily flights will be served by a larger Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. Overall, capacity to and from Colombo will be increased by 20% with an additional 3,136 seats per week.

“Tourism is expected to be one of Sri Lanka’s major growth engines as we seek to further strengthen our economy,” said Sri Lanka’s Minister of Tourism Development, John Amaratunga.

“Sri Lanka… has a wealth of places waiting for travellers to discover. With the support of major carriers like Qatar Airways which has invested additional capacity, we are confident that Sri Lanka can achieve the target of 2.5 million tourists this year.”

Qatar Airways’ Boeing 777-300ER features 412 seats – 24 in business class seats and 388 in economy. The new Sri Lankan service will depart Doha daily at 1850 and arrive in Colombo at 0255. The return service then leaves at 0355 and lands back in Doha at 0645.