SriLankan to make profits by 2015

Sanjeevi JAYASURIYA

SriLankan Airlines will reach profitability in meeting the targets set in the five year strategic plan while balancing commercial interest and national interest.

The airline has a dynamic plan to breakeven in 2014 and to make profits thereafter. The cabin factor is 80 percent and the airline is doing extremely well, SriLankan Airlines CEO Kapila Chandrasena said.

The overall strategy is to consolidate in European markets while expanding into the Asian region. The focus is not just expansion, but profitability and will be looking at flights to Kathmandu and Seoul to commence next year, he said. SriLankan will fly the first aircraft with new traditional interiors and flat-beds to Singapore today giving a true experience of Sri Lankan taste.

With the refurbishment of UL 312, the Airline will embark on complete transformation of aircraft to give a modern look and the six aircraft modernizations will cost around US $ 15 million.

The total fleet will be given the facelift by end June next year.

“We will deploy modernized aircraft for long haul flights to give more comforts to passengers and will be focusing on recovering cost after a year. The facelift is in keeping the industry trend and to meet customer expectations, he said.

The focus is not the numbers, but the revenue generated. We will introduce capacity in a profitable manner as there is a satisfactory growth in revenue on-year-on-year basis, Chandrasena said.

The Airline will increase frequencies to make daily flights to its routine destinations.

SriLankan generates 20 percent of revenue locally and views Mihin Lanka as a complement to its service.

“We do not compete with Mihin as we have expertise and a wider network. We also have the advantage of economies of scale.

We will synergize the network to feed in passengers and rationalizing network as Mihin caters to different market, SriLankan Chief Marketing Officer S T Jayaseelan said.

“The impressive additional service comforts will be attractive for business clients and the services will be comparable to international standards. The replacement of the old fleet will be completed by 2015 giving the airline an edge over the others in the long run,” he said.