To increase transit arrivals:

Int’l airlines should partner local airlines

Indunil HEWAGE

Sri Lanka should permit more international airlines to partner with local airlines in order to increase more transit-passenger arrivals to the country, a senior Civil Aviation Authority official said.

“Aviation authorities should take appropriate measures to further increase the frequency, capacity and code share agreements with other global airlines, if they intend having a sustainable industry growth. It is imperative that the industry should adopt more flexible measures in order to remain globally competitive, while strengthening consumer protection laws in the country.”

 Highlighting the challenges faced by the industry, the official said that the industry growth was being hurt by high oil prices. However, tropical countries would have more opportunities to produce aviation fuel from algae as a better alternative to fossil fuels in order to improve fuel efficiency targets in the Airlines.

SriLankan Airlines CEO Kapila Chandrasena, addressing a recently held global aviation conference in Sri Lanka, said that plans have already been initiated to induct more fuel efficient initiatives that offers certain advantages to SriLankan Airlines to derive more revenue targets.

In addition, SriLankan Airlines has adopted a diversified business strategy, considering the nature of the markets which they operate in, to achieve future growth aspirations of the company. According to Chandrasena, the local aviation industry was expected to attract more technology based foreign direct investments in the coming years.

According to International Aviation Training Academy (IATA) reports, air travel still remain a growth market and the future of the Airline industry is basically around the Asian region.