Mighty Kuwaiti mesmerised by Lanka

Hiran H.SENEWIRATNE

Mesmerized on the golden beaches down south and the lush greenery in up country, a handy looking expatriate from Kuwait attributes Sri Lanka as his second home.

He is none other than who has widely travelled every nook and corner of the world, Kuwait Airways Senior Manager, Sri Lanka and Maldives, Dherar Al Nassar.

Dherar Al Nassar Pictures by Sumanachandra Ariyawansa

Speaking to Daily News Business he said that with all legacies, Sri Lanka’s infrastructure facilities especially the roads from Airport to other tourist destinations are in a poor state. This would impact on the tourist industry in a big way in the future.

He said that due to poor road conditions in Sri Lanka, precious time is consumed in travel from one place to another. Therefore, the Government should expedite all infrastructure development activities . This would help the country to achieve a long-term growth, he said.

Al Nassar said that Sri Lanka’s Airport is nicely built which could be considered as one of the best airports in the region.

Q: How would you rate Sri Lanka as a destination for Kuwait Airways?

A: Kuwait Airways is flying to Sri Lanka for the last 40 years and it is a very lucrative and established market. Currently we have four flights for a week directly to Kuwait, which are connected to European and other major destinations.

Our main target audience is inbound and outbound tourism to Europe, business travellers and the Middle Eastern labour. We are very happy to be in Sri Lanka and our General Sales Agent (GSA) Ceylinco is a very dedicated and helpful arm to carry our operations in Sri Lanka.

Q: Why do you say that Sri Lanka is a lucrative and preferred market?

A: Crisis, turbulent times and uncertainties are happening all over the world. These are common scenario throughout the world. We are a pioneering international airline operating in Sri Lanka. We have been working with our GSA for 40 years.

We were with Sri Lanka during good times and bad times and has a good relationship with Sri Lankan Airlines. The open sky policy agreement that Sri Lanka is having from country to country creates a lot of benefits to attract more flights to Sri Lanka.

Q: During the airport night closure period aftermath of the LTTE air attack, Kuwait airline flights operated quite well. How did that impacted your airlines when other airlines were re-scheduling their operations?

A: We operated our flights in the morning, and did not affect us at all, airport closure at night. These are normal things in the Middle East countries. We have a lot of experienced in our region like bomb explosions, re-scheduling of timetables and various other delays. Due to the recent airport closure it did not affect the departure and arrival times.

Q: How would you differentiate your airlines to other airlines?

A: We are one of the few airlines to incorporate fuel surcharges to our fair. Therefore, we don’t charge from our passengers. We only add country taxes, which are applied for our fare. Therefore, our fares are very competitive and economical compared to other airlines. When the fuel prices went up last few months we never increased our fares which benefited our customers immensely.

Q: How about the Airlines international operations?

A: We are an up and coming airline, which flies to more than 45 destinations worldwide. A new fleet of aircraft is under study and we have long haul flights from Kuwait to New York four flights for a week. That is a 13-hour flight duration. Kuwait Government owned airlines is now in the process of going for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) shortly to broad base the stakes and infuse efficient and effective practices.

Q: As we know Kuwait went through a major crisis during the Iraq invasion in 1990’s. What measures did you take to mend the damages?

A: During the year 1990 Iraq invaded our country. We lost a lot of aircraft. We had to start from the very beginning like a new airline after the war. Now only we are developing and have a lot of expansion plans and increase our fleet and many proposals in the pipeline to make it one of the best airlines in the world.

Q: What do you think of the airline industry as a whole?

A: Colombo is a different market and the entire airline industry is now going through a tough period due to the global recession. Therefore, it has a competition in the industry, which differ from country to country.

Q: You are in the second year in Sri Lanka. What are the places do you like to visit in Sri Lanka?

A: I am in my second year in Sri Lanka. This country is beautiful with full of lush green.

I like to visit Nuwara Eliya, Kandy, and Matara and beaches in Galle area. We have a lot of Kuwait tourists to Sri Lanka. We have a growing demand from tourists from Middle Eastern countries to Sri Lanka.

Q: How about your family life, are they in Sri Lanka or Kuwait?

A: My family is in Kuwait. I have my wife and a daughter who visit Sri Lanka during school vacations.