Airline industry experiencing marginal improvements

Gayan Kanchana

The John Keells Holdings PLC Transportation Group President Romesh David told Daily News Business that at present the airline industry of the country is similar to global trends, and the outbound traffic from Colombo also dipped significantly compared to the same period last year.

“This has resulted in intensified competition among the airlines leading to extremely competitive pricing, thereby negatively affecting the yields to the airlines. The positive side of this though is that Sri Lankan travellers are being afforded a plethora of very attractive deals on fares to several destinations, which in turn has spurred more people to take overseas vacations,” he said.

Romesh said, “The SriLankan Airline Industry is beginning to experience marginal improvements in numbers and it appears that business travel in particular has picked up in the past few weeks. Furthermore, the fact that we are now completely at peace and free of the threat of terrorism, will bring Sri Lanka back on the planning horizon of several airlines who will be interested in commencing or resuming operations to Colombo whilst those currently operating would look at increasing their frequencies. The indications are therefore strong that the industry will begin to experience some growth locally in the months ahead”.

“Recently we were appointed General Sales Agent (GSA) for Air Mauritius. We are extremely pleased at the appointment and look forward to working with them to develop business to and from Sri Lanka. Given our considerable experience and expertise in the industry, our excellent relationships with key stake-holders and the substantial synergy with related businesses in the John Keells Group, we are confident of firmly establishing the Air Mauritius product in Sri Lanka.and we have a office for Mack Air (Pvt) Limited which is located at Justice Akbar Mawatha, Colombo 2,” he said.