Increased air traffic expected in Colombo

by Shirajiv SIRIMANE

The creation of Mihin Lanka has in no way led to the loss of revenue for SriLankan Airlines. In fact, Mihin has created more revenue opportunities for SriLankan Airlines, said Chief Executive Officer, Mihin Lanka, Kapila Chandrasena.

He said that people who never dreamt of overseas travel are now travelling and due to this trend, a new market is opening, creating additional revenue to SriLankan.

He also emphasised that Mihin is not eating into SriLankan’s operations and is instead banking on new markets.

“The two airlines have two different markets similar to the low cost AirAsia and Malaysian Airlines both operating in Malaysia. Mihin is mainly catering to the religious sector, migrant workers and of late to Government servants,” he said.

He said as the airline is making profits for the first time they are going ahead with the lease of a second aircraft.

“This new 160-seater aircraft which has been in operation only for five years will operate a thrice weekly flight to Dhaka, Bangladesh and four times a week to Male,” he said.

The aim is to capture the Maldivian expatriate market and also link it with the Bangladesh migrant workers from both Kuwait and Dubai.

The airline is also planning to operate two flights on December 28 and an additional charter flight to Bodhgaya to supply the increased demand for a Katina Pooja that is being held there the following day.

Meanwhile, SriLankan Airlines Chairman Nishantha Wickramasingha said that the airline’s load factor increased by 80 per cent in the last two months, resulting in an increase of revenue; this trend would continue, he said.

He said they are re-introducing flights to both Singapore and Male and would add a new service to Milano, Italy from December 16.

Chief Executive Officer, SriLankan Manoj Gunawardena said the airline is in a very stable position and would not collapse and the allegations made against the airline are totally baseless.

Meanwhile, Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, will resume flights to Colombo next January operating four frequencies per week from Abu Dhabi, using an Airbus A320 aircraft.The resumption of flights follows the recent end to the civil conflict in Sri Lanka and the boost that this is likely to provide to the tourism sector and to the wider economy as a whole. July and August 2009 already witnessed a 30 per cent increase in visitors to the island compared to the same period last year.

James Hogan, Etihad Airways’ Chief Executive, said: “Sri Lanka is an established market with a strong local traffic base. We expect the resumption of Etihad flights to be welcomed by the considerable Sri Lankan expatriate community in the UAE and those living across the Middle East region, who will be able to connect quickly and easily back home via Abu Dhabi.

“Colombo will be our first new route launch of 2010, and bring to 58 the number of destinations available across our expanding global network.”

Etihad will operate a two-class Airbus A320 to Colombo, configured to carry 140 passengers with 20 seats in Business Class and 120 in economy class.