Low-cost airline launches easier way to get to Sri Lanka

While Sri Lanka welcomed a record 2.3 million international visitors in the last full year for which travel data is available, the small South Asian country is not particularly easy to reach from the U.S.

Due to the country's small size and distance from North America, travelers bound for it have traditionally transferred through a hub such as Dubai, Singapore or London or arrived as part of a wider trip through the region. Europeans, meanwhile, have numerous direct options as airlines catch on to growing tourism interest and launch new routes.

The latest carrier to announce a new flight between Paris and Colombo is the low-cost carrier French Bee. Launched out of Orly Airport (ORY) in 2016 by French aviation executives Marc Rochet and Jean-Paul Dubreuil, it was initially envisioned as a holiday airline flying to destinations such as the Dominican Republic and French overseas territories like Réunion and Mauritius.

Low-cost airline French Bee launches new flights to Sri Lanka and The Maldives

As the late 2010s brought with them an explosion of low-cost airlines flying between the U.S. and Europe, the French Bee founders pivoted its fleet of Airbus A350 planes to launch routes to U.S. cities such as New York, Miami and Los Angeles.

The new Paris-Colombo route, meanwhile, is part of a seasonal expansion meant to tap into growing touristic interest in the country. It was also designed as a connector route for travelers from the U.S. to get to Sri Lanka through a transfer or stopover in Paris.

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The flight will run seasonally between December 2026 and May 2, 2027 to test demand alongside another route to Malé-Velana International Airport (VIA) in The Maldives that connects the three cities in a triangular route meant to maximize the number of purchased seats.

The route to Colombo Bandaranaike International Airport (CMB) will initially run as a triangular stop through Malé in December before launching direct on Jan. 11.

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"The beach resort tourism of the Maldives and the booming cultural, nature and wellness tourism in Sri Lanka"

"It allows us to capture a high-potential market that remains underserved by direct flights from France," French Bee CEO Marc-Antoine Blondeau said in a statement on the flights. "By combining two highly complementary traveler profiles, we are tapping into both the beach-resort tourism of the Maldives and the booming cultural, nature, and wellness tourism in Sri Lanka."

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The flights will be available for booking on the French Bee website on Dec. 16 and will start at introductory rates of €599 ($686 USD) for a round-trip in basic fare for Colombo and €649 ($743 USD) for Malé.

Earlier in the year, flag carrier British Airways also announced a new route between London Heathrow (LHR) and Colombo that will start running in October 2026.

This flight will also run three times a week seasonally and was classified by British Airways Chief Planning And Strategy Officer Neil Chernoff as one that he is "confident will prove popular with our customers" given that the  16.3% increase in international visitors to Sri Lanka at the start of 2026 came primarily from the United Kingdom.

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