SriLankan to fly more destinations in China

SriLankan Airlines are looking at adding another destination in China by the end of the year making it four.

This would be in addition to Beijing, Shanghai and Gansu. Chairman Srilankan, Nishantha Wickramasinghe speaking to Daily News Business said that both China and India are growing markets and SriLankan needs a strong presence there. The Chairman also disclosed that Mihin Lanka would be flying to Madurei in three months time. He said this year 53 million Chinese are expected to travel out of China and SriLankan wants to increase its presence in China to capture this market.

He said that this was the reason the airline decided to have daily flights to both Beijing and Shanghai from July 15.

“We are currently studying the market potential and the destination is likely to be Kunming where there are many attractions for both business and leisure,” he said.

The Chairman said that in addition to increasing frequency and destinations to China, SriLankan would also look at operating flights to Seoul, South Korea by the end of the year.

Commenting on Mihin Lanka and Sri Lankan he said that both airlines are working successfully and they would soon reach break even points. “We had to reinvest in SriLankan as the airline needed a facelift and it also wanted new aircraft.

The Chairman also said that they would soon go for a dry lease for two sea aircraft. “We have now trained our own pilots who would take over this operation.”

He also disclosed plans to acquire an additional amphibious aircraft that could land in both water and land.Wickramasinghe said that they would have two more aircraft by 2015 thus further increasing the fleet.