SriLankan prepares for tougher times

SriLankan Airlines is moving swiftly to minimise the impact of skyrocketing fuel prices with a series of decisive actions throughout the airline.

SriLankan is projecting a fuel bill of USD 500 million for the current year at present prices, which accounts for approximately 50 per cent of its overall costs.

The airline is not passing the full impact of the increase in the fuel bill to its passengers. At the same time, the National Carrier does not intend to become a burden on the Treasury and the country’s taxpayers, and has already put into action several measures to mitigate the impact of fuel price increases.

The airline is already implementing several measures recommended by a panel of experts from IATA to reduce fuel consumption by 3 per cent by the end of this financial year, and up to 5 per cent shortly afterwards.

The Airline has slashed budgets across the board, and is reducing expenses and minimising wastage.

Its management is working on reducing the impact of its top ten cost items, and most of the Company’s Colombo offices are being moved to Katunayake, to save on high levels of rent.

The airline recently introduced a fuel surcharge and will soon be temporarily reducing capacity on some routes in its network. The new schedule is already updated in the reservation systems.

The airline has ensured that these reductions will not affect its passengers and has taken into consideration the needs of Sri Lanka’s tourism industry, the migrant workers in the Middle East, and the strategic requirements of the Government and the country.

They are moving ahead with its plans for the future, which include acquiring four more Airbus A320 aircraft to replace four ageing aircraft in the fleet by the end of 2008, which is likely to be followed by refurbishment of passenger cabins on its wide body fleet of A330’s and A340’s.