Jet Airways' next international destination will be Dhaka, Kathmandu, the Male and Islamabad, according to Chief Executive of the airline Wolfgang Prock-Shauer.

Uttam Kumar Bose, chief executive of Air Sahara, which also introduced a flight between the Sri Lankan capital and Madras a day before Jet Airways, said flights to Bangladesh and the Maldives are next in line possibly next month.

Air Sahara is understood to have entered into a tie-up with Cathay Pacific from Colombo for onward movement of traffic from India to the Far East and the United States.

Jet Airways is also reportedly considering an alliance for onward international air traffic.

Both the private airlines are eyeing travellers to other parts of the world through their tie-ups and that is the reason why they have scheduled late evening flights to Colombo in order to connect East and West-bound flights from the island nation capital.

With Air Sahara and Jet Airways joining Indian Airlines in flying to Colombo, Sri Lanka is set to become a real tourist hub in South Asia and it will have ripple effect on the entire region, tourism industry sources here said.

Both the private air carriers are looking for leisure-travelers and businessmen to Sri Lanka as also East and West-bound traffic.

Whether or not the entry of private airlines in India-Sri Lanka section leads to a fare war, both Jet Airways and Air Sahara expect to reap the benefits of the potential of air travel transforming into a mass industry, the sources said.

For the private airlines, the pie in Saarc destinations is estimated at Rs 1400 crores every year as neither Indian Airlines nor Air India is able to use their rights in this zone to the tune of Rs 700 crore due to lack of requisite number of aircraft.

On the other hand, both Air Sahara and Jet Airways are exploring the possibility of procuring more aircraft, especially the wide-bodied ones.

Jet Airways CEO said with introduction of its flights between Colombo and Madras, the tourist traffic between the two countries will go up substantially. The airlines operation flights to 40 destinations within India carrying 6.4 million passengers every year.

The sky between India and Sri Lanka will be bristling with more planes. Indian Airlines has a daily Airbus 300 flight to Colombo and Air Sahara and Jet Airways will add another 14 Boeing service.

The number of flights from India to Sri Lanka is expected to go up to 93 next month and rise further in May with packages being readied for summer holiday-makers in view of star hotel room tariff on twin-sharing basis pegged around 88 dollars per day for a three-day-four-night stay in Colombo.

With Saarc region opening up to private airlines, travel and tourism sources say the consumer is going to be the king with so many flight options and possibility of competitive fares and attractive package offers.