SriLankan, Emirates hike surcharge

SriLankan Airlines and its partner Dubai-based Emirates Wednesday raised a surcharge on all return international flights from Sri Lanka by 10 dollars, citing rising fuel costs, airline officials said.

SriLankan airlines is partly owned and fully managed by Emirates. The surcharge follows a 50 dollar increase in April and 20 dollars in June.

Passengers on one-way flights from Colombo on Emirates or SriLankan will pay an additional five dollars, SriLankan airline officials said.

SriLankan posted a 10 million dollar loss in the financial year ended March 2005 because of higher oil prices and the December tsunami.

SriLankan had posted a 56 million dollar profit for the financial year ending March 2004, the first ever profit recorded since the carrier, previously known as Air Lanka, was launched in 1979.

AFP