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| Sunday, 26 September 2004 |
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SriLankan Airlines records gross profit of Rs. 9.4 billion by Elmo Leonard SriLankan Airlines, reputed in previous times for its loss making episodes, for the year ended March 04 recorded a profit after tax of Rs 4.5 billion an increase of 94 percent over that of the previous year. The company claims it has made the highest profits for a Sri Lankan company. The profits of airlines are known to fluctuate drastically and uncontrollably, CEO Peter Hill told the media. Fuel prices, 104 US($) cents per gallon in conducive times, is now, 125 cents and fuel prices are expected to continue its upward trend through this year. The fuel price ascent is eating into profits, Hill conceded. But most airlines in the world are absorbing the extra fuel cost, in their bid to remain competitive,he added. With a 25 percent dividend declared, government of Sri Lanka with 51 percent shareholdings gets a cheque of Rs 656 million. Emirates Airline holds 43 percent of the stake and local employees, the balance. But, Chairman, K Balapatabendi said the strong growth during the year will continue. "We will continue to increase services to India with Ahmadabad targeted to be our 11th destination this winter." The airline has successfully sold Sri Lanka in India and increased flights to and through the Middle East. Answering questions, Head of Corporate Communications Chandana De Silva said that to single out a profit or loss making route was not possible while the airline carries a network of routes. For the year ended March 04 the company recorded a gross profit of Rs 9.4 billion compared to the previous year's Rs 7.0 billion. Group gross profit increased by Rs 2.7 billion to Rs 11.0 billion, Chief Finance Officer, S.A. Chandrasekera said. The current year is challenging and exciting, similar to the year behind many new products and services launched. Total operating revenue of the company amounted to Rs 45 billion, up 25 percent, primarily due to higher passenger numbers and yield. The total revenue of the group was Rs 46 billion, up by 25 percent. The airlines catering reached Rs 1.08 billion, an increase of 24 percent, Director Dilip Nijhawan said. The airline launched a large number of new projects in the year under review, including air taxi an amphibious domestic service that now serves 10 destinations. New services were launched to two new destinations in India - Kochi and Hydrabad and services were resumed to Karachchi. The airline which began the financial year with 11 aircraft, increased its fleet to 17 with the acquisition of two Airbus A320's, two Airbus A320s an Antonov AN12F freighter and an amphibious Cessna Caravan floatplane. The number of passengers carried increased to 2 million, up 14 percent. Cargo carriage increased to 54,943 tonnes, up 15 percent. During the year under review, SriLankan won many international awards. The airline expects traffic through Colombo to continue increasingly rapidly and is involved in projects to exploit these opportunities, Head of Commercial, G.T. Jayaseelan said. |
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