Kuwait Airways to increase investments in Colombo
Shirajiv Sirimane
Sri Lanka is a growing market and Kuwait Airways will make further
investments to meet the projected demand, said Chairman Kuwait Airways,
Mohamed Salah.
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Chairman, Kuwait Airways, Chairman, Mohamed Salah with Senior
Manager Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Dherar Al Nassar and
District Sales Manager, Kuwait Airways, Sudesh Abeysinghe are
seen in discussion. - Picture by Shirajiv Sirimane |
In an exclusive interview to the Daily News Business he said that
this was one reason for the airline to operate uninterrupted frequencies
to Sri Lanka for 41 years making it one of the first carries to fly to
Colombo. “Like any other destination Sri Lanka too has gone through many
bad patches but the country today is moving towards resilience”. Under
whatever circumstance the airline never interrupted its services to
Colombo,” he said.
He said that they now have decided to add the fifth frequency to
Colombo this year. “We have observed that current seat factor is not
adequate to meet the demand,” he said.
The passengers have now realized that though Kuwait airfares are the
lowest the service has not been compromised. It’s also no longer an
airline to carry domestic workers, Chairman said.
“One reason for us to add an additional frequency to Colombo while
most of the other airlines are shutting down destinations due to global
recession, is because of the new student, tourist and transit market
that is emerging,” he said.
The connections offered to London and beyond from Kuwait are the
chief reason to this new market. “The airline is hoping to reschedule
some of its flights next winter giving better connections to Sri Lankan
passengers,” he said.
Salah who was previously the airline’s engineering director, said
that recent promotions launched in Kuwait by Sri Lanka Tourism and
Tourism Deputy Minister, Faiser Mustapha are also slowly opening up a
tourism market for Sri Lanka, he said. Asked to comment on the proposed
move to privatize the airline in two years he said that the government
seriously looking at this and will offer 35 percent stake to the private
sector, 40 percent to the public, keeping 20 percent with the
government.
The airline will be purchasing six aircraft this year and would be
adding new destinations to Australia, China, Singapore, South Africa and
North America. In addition the frequency to present destinations too
would be increased.
Commenting on the future of the aviation industry he said that the
aviation in the Gulf region would not be affected since people in the
region are rich. “However in the other regions there would be a further
dip in the industry,” he said. |
