History
Air Lanka was set up by the Government of Sri Lanka in July 1979 following the closure of Air Ceylon in 1978. Initially, the new air carrier operated two Boeing 707 jets on lease from Singapore Airlines. During the 1980s, the airline increased the number of destinations served and made additions to its fleet. By 1990, Air Lanka served 26 destinations. In December 1992, the airline purchased its first Airbus A320.
Air Lanka, which was state owned, was part-privatized to the Dubai based Emirates Group in 1998 when Emirates and the Sri Lankan Government signed an agreement for a ten-year strategic partnership. This agreement included exclusive rights for all aircraft ground handling and airline catering at Colombo-Bandaranaike airport for a ten-year period. Emirates bought a 40% stake worth US$70 million (which it later increased to 43.6%) in Air Lanka, and sought to refurbish the airline's image and fleet. The Government retained a majority stake in the airline but gave full control to Emirates for investment and management decisions. In 1998, the Air Lanka brand was abandoned and SriLankan Airlines was born.
SriLankan acquired six Airbus A330-200s to complement its fleet of Airbus A340-300 and A320-200 aircraft. The A330-200 units joined the airline between October 1999 and July 2000. The company’s fourth A340-300 arrived at Colombo painted in the airline’s new corporate livery. SriLankan also upgraded its existing A340 fleet into a two-class configuration (business and economy class) whilst overhauling the interior to reflect the new corporate image.
SriLankan Airlines has been affected by both environmental problems and acts of terrorism. This has included the SARS outbreak, the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, the Civil War within Sri Lanka and a terrorist attack on Colombo-Bandaranaike airport, which destroyed four aircraft and damaged two, writing off half of the airline's fleet. SriLankan subsequently took the decision to recreate Colombo as a new hub for flights to Asia. An example of this is the expansion into regional markets, notably in India. It is now the largest foreign air carrier into India with 100 flights a week to 11 destinations.
Whilst continuing expansion in the region, SriLankan also serves Jeddah, its third destination in Saudi Arabia, after Riyadh and Dammam. Jeddah was the airline's 51st destination in 28 countries, thus increasing to nine the number of its destinations in the Middle East.
As part of its expansion strategy, it has also developed non-stop flights from the Maldives (Malé) to London, Paris and Tokyo.
In 2008, the Government of Sri Lanka notified Emirates Airlines that it will not renew the management contract[5] which then expired on March 31, 2008.
The flight attendant's uniform has remained unchanged since the days of Air Lanka. The stewardesses' uniform is a Kandyan-style sari in green with a peacock feather print, while the stewards' uniform is a red/maroon jacket, white shirt and black trousers.
New Management
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The new management appointed by the government is currently highly criticised by the employees for their lack of expertise and political promotions.[citation needed] The CEO is being forced to resign but has stated that he will never resign because unions say or the airline incurs losses because the board of directors has faith in him. SriLankan incurred a loss of Rs.6 billion in last fiscal year and has incurred a Rs.10 billion loss this fiscal year.[citation needed] The new management has so far sold six aircraft to earn money.[citation needed]
Sri Lankan 'Monara'
The SriLankan Airlines logo features the peacock bird ('Monara' in Sinhala) (මොණරා) from the mythical Dandumonara Yanthra(flying machine similar to a peacock) built according to Sinhalese[citation needed] folklore and Ramayanam by the mythical King Ravana. The original logo was designed by veteran Sri Lankan artist Senaka Senanayake, whose intention it was that the Peacock denoted the 'Dandumonara' flying machine from Ravana story. The five feathers in the logo stood for the Pancha Seela, and head denoted the triple gem.
There was much animosity about the name change and new logo within Sri Lanka and among its expatriates. 'Air Lanka' had proved to be a much-loved name amongst a large community who did not want it changed, as the name had remained the same since it was changed from 'Air Ceylon' in the 1970s. It was also pointed out that Air Lanka is an easier name to refer to (much like Air India) than Sri Lankan Airlines. Due to folklore and superstition, some Sri Lankans believe that the new SriLankan Airlines logo - featuring the peacock flying away from the aircraft - would bring misfortune to the airline, as opposed to the old logo that showed the peacock facing the direction of the aircraft in flight. To this day, such critics claim that they are correct, as the airline is far from its glory days due to grave financial mismanagement.
Destinations
SriLankan serves 38 destinations in 25 countries (as of 1 June 2009).[1]
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- bmi - Manchester, Bradford, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin, Belfast[6]
- Etihad Airways - Amman, Brussels, Dublin, Geneva, Manchester, Munich
- Malaysia Airlines - Los Angeles, Sydney, Melbourne, Jakarta, Seoul[7]
Fleet
As of December 2008, SriLankan Airlines has an all Airbus fleet.
The airline is in the midst of a refleeting program replacing older narrowbody aircraft with new or almost new ones.[8]
Aircraft  | Total | Passengers (Business/Economy) | Routes | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airbus A320-200 | 3 | 152 (12/140) | Short haul Abu Dhabi, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Karachi, Malé, Mumbai, Muscat, Trichy and Thiruvananthapuram. Excludes one wet leased to Mihin Lanka. | |
| Airbus A330-200 | 4 | 287 (12/275) | Medium-long haul Bahrain, Bangalore, Bangkok, Beijing, Chennai, Dammam, Doha, Dubai, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Jeddah, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait, Male', Milan, Riyadh, Singapore and Thiruvananthapuram. | |
| Airbus A340-300 | 5 | 313 (18/295) | Medium-ultra long haul Bahrain, Bangalore, Bangkok, Beijing, Chennai, Doha, Dubai, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait, London, Milan, Paris, Riyadh, Rome, Singapore and Tokyo. | |
| Total fleet | 12 |
One A340 aircraft is allocated to President H.E. Mahinda Rajapaksa on request.
SriLankan's average fleet age is 9.7 years as of October 2009.[9]
Cabin
The cabins are very similar to the cabins of the Emirates Airline A330-200s and A340-300s. SriLankan provides an individual video player that includes 18 movies and 22 radio channels (Economy Class) and over 30 movie titles in different languages (Business Class). Both classes are given the option of a "Satcom" satellite phone. Satcom allows calling anyone in another seat free of charge. SriLankan prepares meals for those with special dietary requirements and Business Class passengers can pre-order any of the special meals available.
Catering
SriLankan Catering, although a 100% owned subsidiary of SriLankan Airlines, is a standalone operation responsible for its own economic infrastructure, management and profitability. Under the guidance of its chief executive officer, the company’s prime responsibility is the preparation of in-flight meals for SriLankan Airlines. It also caters for foreign airlines, among which are Qatar Airways, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines and Emirates. SriLankan Catering can produce 15,000 meals each day.[10]
Entertainment
New movies from Hollywood, old classics and some films from India are available. There are also comedies, dramas, arts, sports and children's TV.
CTV is SriLankan's channel for children with programmes such as comedies and cartoons. SriLankan also has 22 radio channels to provide music from around the world. SriLankan's radio channels cover the European charts, Golden Era, classical and jazz and popular music selections from Sri Lanka, Arabia, India and Japan. New games have been added, including puzzles, playing cards and classic board games.[11]
Frequent Flyer Program
SriLankan's first frequent flyer program was called Serendib Miles and was abandoned in early 2000. It then became a partner of Emirates' Skywards frequent flyer program. However this agreement ceased to exist when the partnership between the two airlines concluded on 31 March 2008.[12] SriLankan then launched FlySmiLes, which has since added a variety of new reward partners to its program.[13]
Official Website: http://www.flysmiles.com
Incidents and accidents
On 3 May 1986, a bomb planted by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam exploded on board Flight UL512 prior to take-off at Colombo's Bandaranaike International Airport. The bomb, which had been timed to explode in-flight, went off while the aircraft, a Lockheed L-1011 'Tristar' was on the ground killing 14 of 128 passengers. Officials believe the bomb may have been concealed in crates of meat and vegetables being freighted to the Republic of Maldives. Other reports believe that the bomb was hidden in the aircraft's 'Fly Away Kit'.
On 24 July 2001, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam launched a suicide attack at Colombo-Bandaranaike airport that damaged or destroyed 26 aircraft. Four aircraft were written off, including an Airbus A340-300 destroyed by an explosive charge and an Airbus A330-200 destroyed by a rocket fired from the control tower. In addition, an A320-200 and an A340-300 were damaged in the assault. In total, six Sri Lanka Air Force personnel, one commando and eight members of the LTTE were killed.[14]
Awards
- World’s Best Airline in a survey of Economy Class passengers
- World’s Friendliest Cabin Staff - Skytrax
- World’s Most Reliable Operator of Airbus A330s (small fleet) - Airbus Industrie
- World’s Most Reliable Operator of Airbus A340s (small fleet) - Airbus Industrie
- First Runner-up for World’s Best Cabin Staff – Skytrax
- Best Airline in South Asia (three consecutive times) from Travel Trade Gazette
- Best Airline in Central Asia (four consecutive times) - Skytrax
- Best Overall In-flight Entertainment (small fleet), twice – World Airline Entertainment Association
- Best Airline Turnaround of the Year 2004 – Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation
- Galileo Indian Express Award for Best Eastbound International Airline
In March 2003, the Skytrax Research Agency’s worldwide passenger survey voted SriLankan, for the third consecutive year, 'Best Airline of the Year for Central Asia'. In that same year, Travel Trade Gazette Asia voted SriLankan the 'Best Airline in South Asia'. In 2001, the UK Wanderlust Magazine placed SriLankan eighth in its Top Major Airlines travel award category.
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| Founded | July 1979 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hubs | Colombo Bandaranaike International Airport | |||
| Frequent flyer program | FlySmiLes | |||
| Member lounge | Serendib Lounge | |||
| Fleet size | 13 | |||
| Destinations | 38[1] | |||
| Company slogan | You're Our World | |||
| Headquarters | Katunayake, Sri Lanka[2] | |||
| Key people | Manoj Gunawardena (CEO)[3] | |||
| Website | http://www.srilankan.aero | |||
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