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SriLankan
Airlines won three global awards for excellence for inflight
entertainment, at the World Airline Entertainment Association’s
Avion Awards 2004. The most prestigious prize was “Best
Overall Inflight Entertainment,” for an airline with a
fleet size of 20 or less aircraft
It was the second year in succession that SriLankan Airlines
won this title from the WAEA, the global airline entertainment
industry’s premier organization, with a membership of
more than 90 airlines and 250 airline suppliers and related
companies that range from aircraft manufacturers to movie producers.
The award of “Best Overall Inflight Entertainment”
is made in three categories based on the size of an airline’s
fleet – 1-20 aircraft, 21-50 aircraft, and more than 50
aircraft.
SriLankan also cemented its position as having some of the world’s
finest inflight entertainment in both short haul and long haul
air travel, winning the awards of “Best Inflight Video
Programming – Short Haul,” and “Best Inflight
Video Programming – Long Haul,” over stiff competition
from some of the world’s largest and most prestigious
airlines. Other finalists in these categories included Emirates,
Air Canada, Qantas, American Airlines, Virgin, Cathay Pacific
Airways and BMI British Midland.
Peter Hill, CEO of SriLankan, commented on receiving the awards:
“We may be a small airline but this does not mean we do
not compete with the best the big airlines have to offer. SriLankan
is very proud to accept these awards in recognition of our investment
in this important aspect of customer service.” SriLankan
offers over 40 channels of TV and radio entertainment and a
selection of games on its fleet of A340s and A330s.
This is the fourth consecutive year that SriLankan’s inflight
entertainment has been recognized at the Avion Awards. In 2001,
SriLankan was chosen Second Runner-Up in the “Best Inflight
Entertainment Guide” category, and the following year
was First Runner-Up in the same category.
“I am delighted that SriLankan has won not one but three
awards at this most prestigious international event. Our goal
is to be the best airline in Asia and the WAEA awards are another
step along the road to achieving that goal,” said Nigel
O’Shea, Acting Head of Service Delivery at SriLankan Airlines.
The 26-member international judging panel at the 15th annual
Avion Awards included leading media executives, critics, producers,
editors, and academics from the U.S., U.K., Hong Kong, Australia,
Canada, New Zealand, Brazil, Lebanon, and Zimbabwe. Entries
were judged on originality, suitability, production value, content,
and balance. The judges evaluated over 200 samples of inflight
audio, video, print, and interactive content that appeared in
commercial airline service during the past year, representing
44 passenger airlines worldwide.
The “Best Overall” ranking is determined by a composite
score each qualifying airline receives based on that airline’s
individual scores in selected print, audio, and video categories.
The awards presentation took place at a gala banquet following
the WAEA’s 25th Annual Conference & Exhibition, in
Seattle, Washington, where the achievements of the winners were
honoured before the inflight entertainment community and publicized
widely in the world’s media. The Conference & Exhibition
showcased products from more than 150 companies and was attended
by over 1,500 delegates.
For more information on the Avion Awards, the WAEA, and the
inflight entertainment industry, visit the WAEA website at www.waea.org
SriLankan Airlines has gained recognition as a world-class airline,
and received a string of accolades in recent years including,
the Skytrax “World’s Friendliest Cabin Staff,”
first runner up for the “World's Best Cabin Staff”
also from Skytrax, the TTG (Asia) “Best Airline in South
Asia Award”, and “Best Airline Central Asia”
for the fourth consecutive year.
SriLankan has also built a sterling reputation for punctuality,
and Airbus Industrie recently named SriLankan as the world’s
most efficient operator of Airbus A330s in the small fleet category
in 2002 and 2003.
SriLankan, together with its strategic partner Emirates, shares
an award-winning frequent flyer programme, Skywards, which has
over one million members. In 2003 Skywards, then only two-years
old, swept the Freddie awards (the frequent flyer world's equivalent
of the Oscars), winning six awards including Programme of the
Year. For the second consecutive year, in 2004 Skywards collected
the Freddie for Best Award Redemption.
The SriLankan Airlines fleet contains five state-of-the-art
Airbus A340 and four A330 aircraft with luxurious seats that
have ample pitch and width. Seating is in a 2-class system of
Business and Economy classes. SriLankan’s fleet also includes
five Airbus A320s, one Cessna Caravan Floatplane, and two Antonov
AN12 Freighter aircraft.
The airline has been rapidly expanding its fleet, route network
and services, and plans to acquire more aircraft. SriLankan
now flies to 42 destinations in 23 countries, and has announced
plans to launch services to China. The airline is also in the
midst of expanding its operations to India, and plans to launch
services to at least two more cities in that country in the
next few months. It is also increasing its frequencies to existing
destinations in other regions, namely the Middle East, Europe
and Southeast Asia.
In addition, SriLankan also flies to 10 domestic destinations
with its amphibious service SriLankan Air Taxi.
Media Relations Department
Corporate Communications Division
SriLankan Airlines
www.srilankan.aero
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