In brief

Trio Slice from Elephant House

Officials of the company tasting the new product. Pic by: Wimal Karunathilake

Elephant House, a subsidiary of John Keels Holdings and a pioneer in frozen confectionery launched the Trio Slice ice cream at a ceremony in Colombo on Wednesday. The company set the trend for innovative and a new style of consumption with the launch of the winter slice last December.

Hot on the heels of that innovation and the success of it the Trio Slice was introduced to the market. Ice cream though not consumed in large quantities it is a popular and seasonal food item among Sri Lankans.Elephant House holds a 64% market share for frozen confectionery and has a value 27 million litres per annum. The company has expanded its business in the Northern and Eastern region.

PJ’s mega hotel in Jaffna

The end of the war and stability denoted by President Mahinda Rajapaksa winning a second term has encouraged PJ Hotels to push the envelope and target facilitating the development of 10% of the 50,000 rooms needed to meet the President’s target of 2.5 million arrivals by 2016.The 500 roomed ‘King Sangiliyan’ named after the last king of Jaffna will be built in 3 stages. It joins the other 3 mega hotels on the drawing boards of PJ Hotel the 2050 roomed PJ’s ‘Mudliar Hotel’ in Kalpitiya, the 1002 roomed ‘PJ’s Royal Line’ in Hambantota and the 500 roomed PJ’s ‘Aboriginal Beach Resort’ in Kalkudah.

Chairman of PJ Hotels Prasanna Jayewardene does not see a problem of meeting his personal target of facilitating the development of the new 5000 rooms by his group. Having worked up the ladder of the hotel industry from the very bottom and having managed and owned hotels the idea of conceptualising and developing this number of rooms is most rewarding, as it not only helps the economy but touches the lives of people especially the youth he said.

Emirates flies to Tokyo

Emirates has announced a special inaugural fare to Tokyo to celebrate the launch of services to Narita International Airport from March 28.

The special return fare of Rs 93,287 on Economy Class will be valid for travel from Colombo to the Japanese capital via Dubai for a period of one month. The fare includes surcharges and taxes.

‘There is a lot of excitement about our launch of flights to Tokyo, because it is an exciting and exotic destination,’ said Devika Ellepola, Emirates Sales Manager in Sri Lanka. ‘This all-inclusive introductory fare represents a value for money opportunity to experience the buzz, and the special Japanese menu that Emirates will introduce on the route.’

Emirates will deploy its Boeing 777-300ER on the route, with eight Private Suites in First Class, 42 flat-bed seats in Business Class and 304 Economy Class seats.

Tokyo is the first of a number of exciting route launches in 2010 for Emirates, as the airline’s network expands across the six continents that it currently flies to non-stop from Dubai. Tokyo’s March 28 launch is followed by the start of services to Amsterdam on May 1, Prague on 1st July, the Spanish city of Madrid on August 1 and Dakar in Senegal on September 1.

From Colombo, Emirates operates 21 services a week to Dubai, offering convenient connections to more than 100 destinations on the Emirates network.