 (Colombo
Exclusive)—Recently SriLankan Airlines has engineered good
news on nearly every front.
Peter Hill, CEO, SriLankan Airlines, put it this way:
“As
a result of our effort in the Indian market, our India-Sri Lanka point-to-point
traffic is considerably up over last year.”
SriLankan Airlines Group had just posted a net profit after tax of
Rs. 1,376.07 million for the financial year 2004/05(US $1-Rs 101),
despite multiple crises including the Tsunami and skyrocketing fuel
prices, that heavily impacted financial results.
Setting
the tone, Chairman J.M.S. Brito was upbeat:
“The
performance of the SriLankan Airlines Group during the financial year
2004/05 cannot be measured or quantified in rupees and cents.
“I am proud to say that the SriLankan Airlines
Group and its staff proved to be a tremendous source of strength for
the nation during its time of greatest crisis in the aftermath of
the Tsunami in December 2004.
“Apart
from providing services free of charge for affected foreign tourists
to return home, and handling the unloading of tens of thousands of
tons of life-saving supplies, SriLankan Airlines organized relief
and reconstruction efforts on both the devastated southern and eastern
coastlines, which continue to this day.”
Ask
Peter Hill what are prospects for SriLankan in the coming year, the
answer is direct:
“The airline operation
may just about break even.
“As a group,
however, we will make money.”
The SriLankan
chief pointed to fuel impact on SriLankan and other airlines, noting
the ability to pass on a share of the oil effect to the consumer,
as a partial determinate in any airline’s ability to turn a
profit.
 But
back to India, Mr. Hill said the subcontinent has been all good news
for the carrier.
“It does help to have Emirates as partner,”
Peter Hill smiles.
Emirates Group that also
holds a 43% stake in SriLankan has increasingly partnered services
with the carrier.
"Since they do not fly
to many of the Southern points in India that we serve, the fit and
cooperation is excellent.
“Moreover we
do not want to be seen as a foreign carrier in India.
“Our
desire is that the Indian consumer and the Indian agent look upon
us as one of their own.
“We want to strengthen
our role as a South Asian carrier.”
Peter
Hill also said that SriLankan had structured its schedules to take
better advantage of Colombo’s hub position.
“We
were already carrying a lot of 5th and 6th freedoms out of India,
but post-Tsunami, we decided to reorient all our schedules, even more
strongly hubbing the Indian traffic out of Sri Lanka. |
“The internet
is going to witness much more SriLankan business activity in the
future.
“We want to drive more activity to the Internet.
“So far we have only scratched the surface.
“Our plan is to drive more travel agents
to our net.
“We are setting up an agency booking engine,
direct to our website and not through the GDS.
“We will work with BSP.
“Our aim is to work closely with the trade
but cannot continue to pay into the expensive distribution system.
“Many of our new net initiatives will unfold
in the next year.”
Elsewhere at Sri Lankan headquarters this day
we discover Barry Brown recently named as Head of Commercial at
the carrier who has brought with him a refreshing change to the
corporate culture.
He is quite committed to India, saying simply:
“India where the action is and it is India
where we want SriLankan Airlines to be.
“India was the answer,” Mr. Brown
said.
“We provide more convenient connections
through Colombo for any passenger coming from London, for example,
and going on to Hyderabad.”
South India is where SriLankan specializes and
where the Colombo hub works best with all its connections into southern
India.
Brown also spoke about the future course of action
SriLankan would be taking.
“The airline is expanding its own sales
network.” What that means is that while retaining the traditional
GSAs, the carrier is actively recruiting frontline office staff.
The process has already started in Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram
and Bangalore.
SriLankan Airlines has also extended its network
to include daily services to Sydney and 10 flights a week to Cyprus,
offering increased services through the use of code share arrangements
with Emirates.
At the same time, SriLankan continues to expand
its own network and recently launched thrice-weekly services to
the Chinese capital, Beijing.
With the addition of these destinations, SriLankan
Airlines provides services to 48 destinations in 27 countries.
SriLankan Airlines has greatly expanded its presence
in markets across Europe, Asia and Australia through the use of
code share agreements with its strategic partner Emirates, venturing
to destinations that would be otherwise impractical to service at
the present time.
“SriLankan is constantly searching for ways
by which to increase services and the scope of our network.
“Apart from launching our own flights to
new destinations and increasing frequencies to existing destinations,
we have been increasing our use of code shares through our partner
Emirates.”
“This is a highly profitable strategy for
us raising our profile and marketing opportunities.
It gives us a definite competitive edge at a time
when the global airline industry is in crisis over skyrocketing
fuel prices.”
The combining of services allows both airlines
to provide their customers with the flexibility of having multiple
choices as to what day of the week and what time they can fly. Everyone
benefits – SriLankan, Emirates, and most of all, our passengers,”
said Barry Brown.
(TGhosh) |
