<span style="color: #222222;">Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremsinghe has thanked Indian government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for assistance given for Jaffna International Airport, which began its operations today with landing of an Alliance air flight from Chennai. <br />''<br />''Speaking at the inauguration function in Jaffna, Mr. Wickremsinghe commended the efforts of External Affairs and Civil Aviation Ministry along with Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka to complete the project. He said, India is assisting for development of war-affected Jaffna in northern province and there is tremendous potential for collaboration in the region.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The Sri Lankan Prime Minister said that the Alliance air services from Chennai is the beginning and efforts are being made to start services between Jaffna and Colombo.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Indian High Commissioner Taranjit Singh Sandhu in his address noted that the bilateral relations between India and Sri Lanka have now truly touched the sky. He added that the inaugural flight was yet another example of India's commitment to continue with people-oriented development projects in Sri Lanka. Regular commercial flights between Chennai and Jaffna are scheduled to start from next month.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, Civil Aviation Minister Arjuna Ranatunga and Air India Chairman-cum-Managing Director Ashwini Lohani were also present on the occasion. </span><br />''  <br />