Plans to fly direct to Moscow, Melbourne next year :

SriLankan to regain profitability by 2015

Shirajiv Sirimane in UAE

Nishantha Wickramasinghe, Chairman SriLankan Airlines at the AT M in Dubai Picture by Shirajiv Sirimane

SriLankan Airlines was looking at breaking even by 2015 and returning to the path of profitability, said Chairman of the national carrier Nishantha Wickramasinghe. Speaking to Daily News Business he said the addition of 10 new aircraft, six airbus A330-300s and four A350-900s beginning from next year would help the airline a great deal in achieving this target. “This deal is being done directly and there would be a leasing financing package that will go along with the re-fleeting. The use of the new fleet of aircraft would also give a 40 % fuel saving to the airline,” he said.

SriLankan Airlines will also secure an aircraft maintenance facility at the country’s newest international airport in Mattala as part of the deal with Airbus. He said that the airline had exceeded the annual tourist inbound traffic target of 2012 and they were now looking at a double digit growth in 2013. The total annual traffic increase from the region amounted to a substantial 121,709 passengers. SriLankan currently serves nine destinations in the Gulf operating over 50 flights per week. In addition Mihin also operates flights to the region. The carrier operates a fleet of 22 aircraft — six A340-300 aircraft, seven A330-200/243 and eight A320-200 aircraft.

SriLankan is also contemplating on launching direct flights to Moscow and Melbourne next year. Wickramasinghe said that they were currently flying to Moscow with a stopover in Dubai and were looking at launching a daily direct frequency next year. “This way we could get better returns,” he emphasized. He also said that with the inclusion of 10 new aircraft to UL's fleet next year they could look at new destinations and Melbourne has been identified as a priority. The airline thus hopes to offer four flights per week to Melbourne.

“We are also looking at encouraging Western traffic to fly to Melbourne through Colombo and this would also be a major boost for the tourism industry as we plan to offer them an attractive stay over packages as well,” he added.