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SriLankan increases services
in new 3 phase schedule |
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SriLankan’s
Chief Executive Officer, Peter Hill today unveiled the carrier’s
radically revamped schedule in what he determines will be a
revelation for their customers.
He stated “After lengthy consultation with our customers
and in line with our corporate aspirations we have answered
the call to fly daily services to most of the destinations we
serve. The Tsunami has been devastating for tourism in the Asian
region and in turn, as part of the “Bounce Back Sri Lanka
Program” we have added many new services whilst concentrating
on our core markets”.
He added “As part of the Bounce Back program we introduced
a Valentine’s Day promotion in both Europe and Japan and
I’m delighted to say that thousands of passengers have
responded to our offer and we are seeing tourism growth returning
to Sri Lanka. This year will probably not be a great year for
the Tourism Industry in our country but as the infrastructure
returns to normal we need to be progressive in our thinking
and we have developed a 3 phase plan to compliment our marketing
objectives”.
“Firstly, we are commencing an exciting new daily return
service from Colombo to New York’s JFK Airport on March
27th which opens up a whole new market for SriLankan Airlines,
the country and our neighbouring South Asian communities. We
are delighted to be working with our partner Emirates on these
codeshare services.” commented Hill.
“Furthermore, we are increasing our services to Singapore
and Malaysia with the addition of 2 new frequencies bringing
the combined number of weekly services to Singapore to 16 and
Kuala Lumpur to 12. This capacity increase means we can offer
our customers multiple choices of flights operating during the
most preferred times of the day,” added SriLankans Head
of Commercial, Barry Brown.
Turning to Continental Europe Mr Brown enthusiastically added,
“We will operate a total of 33 weekly flights to Frankfurt,
Munich and Düsseldorf; 12 weekly flights to Paris and 7
frequencies to Zurich. These flights will be operated by both
SriLankan Airlines and our codeshare partner Emirates.”
The carrier is placing equal importance on its Middle East and
Sub Continent network and is rolling out a huge capacity increase
to provide an unparalleled level of service to these markets.
“This summer we are introducing daily flights to Abu Dhabi
all on wide bodied A330 aircraft. Four of these flights will
continue to Doha and 3 to Bahrain.
Saudi Arabia and Kuwait will also be the recipients of increased
direct flights from Colombo bringing Dammam to 3 flights per
week and Kuwait to 9 per week.
Dubai is also targeted in our expansion plans and this will
include 3 new SriLankan early morning departures bringing a
combined total of both SriLankan and Emirates codeshare flights
to a total of 28 services per week from Colombo.
We are also adding additional frequencies to Cochin from 6 to
12, Calicut 6 to 9, Tirichchirrappalli 7 to 10, Trivandrum from
9 to 11 and Hyderabad from 5 to 7 services per week. Plus our
Pakistan flights will operate from Colombo to Karachi via Bombay,
three times per week” added Hill.
The summer schedule introduces SriLankan flights to China with
three weekly services. The flights will operate from Colombo
to Beijing via Bangkok thus bringing Bangkok to a daily frequency.
The other 4 services will operate from Bangkok to Hong Kong
and return.
London will also see the reintroduction of 3 additional flights
bringing the total to 12 services per week with future plans
to commence a twice daily operation.
Mr Hill stated “ I am delighted with this new look schedule
and our vision to create Sri Lanka as the hub in South Asia
is now taking shape.”
Media Relations
Corporate Communications Department
SriLankan Airlines
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March 07th, 2005 |
