SriLankan opens the path to South Asia integration into global airline alliances

HAMBANTOTA, Sri Lanka - The first carrier from the Indian subcontinent to join any global airline alliance, SriLankan is in fact completed yesterday Oneworld’s biggest expansions to date, since it was launched 15 years ago. A colourful traditional opening ceremony accompanied by a golden flowers tree-planting took place at Sri Lanka newest airport, Hambantota’s Mattala Rajapaksa International in the Southeastern part of the country.

"By joining oneworld, SriLankan is likely to experience accelerated growth in both air transport and tourism. We expect that our contribution to oneworld will generate US$ 25 to 30 million towards oneworld while we expect to receive the same amount from our oneworld colleagues”, indicated Sri Lankan CEO Kapila Chandrasena. offering the full range of services and benefits of the world’s fastest growing and highest rated global airline alliance. “It goes with our five-year strategy to increased capacity, control our cost, expand our network and market and benchmark our services to global levels”, he added. “Sri Lankan integration into oneworld is a further step into the government’s agenda to position Sri Lanka as a major aviation hub in the Indian subcontinent”, told during the ceremony SriLankan chairman Nishantha Wickremasinghe. The first SriLankan flight recorded under oneworld is UL318 which departed to Kuala Lumpur in the morning.

The first carrier from the Indian subcontinent to join any of the global airline alliances, Sri Lanka completes oneworld’s biggest expansion programmes since the alliance was launched 15 years ago. “Over the last two years, some 15 carriers or their affiliates joined our alliance. I do not foresee any significant expansion or new member joining for the time being”, added oneworld CEO Bruce Ashby.

SriLankan’s addition to oneworld brings two new destinations on to the alliance network – Hambantota itself plus India’s Tiruchirapalli – along with its Colombo base as a new oneworld hub. With an extensive schedule serving southern India and as the leading international airline serving the Maldives, SriLankan also significantly strengthens oneworld’s presence throughout South Asia, one of the world’s fastest growing regions for air travel demand. With SriLankan, oneworld members serve close to 1,000 airports in 152 countries with 14,250 daily departures and carry over 500 million passengers a year on a combined fleet of some 3,300 aircraft. It also generates US$ 400 billion annual revenues.

Among the newest developments for SriLankan as a member of oneworld is the integration of the frequent flyer program SriLankan’s FlySmiLes and the access to lounges across the world. Another benefit is the speeding up of code share with other carriers. On its integration day, SriLankan announced to have launched a new code share agreement with both Finnair and S7 from Russia.

From 15 May, S7’s designator will be added to flights operated by SriLankan between their Colombo and Moscow Domodedovo hubs, and also Colombo and Bangkok. At the same time, SriLankan’s UL prefix will be placed on services operated by the Russian airline between its own Moscow Domodedovo base and Chelyabinsk, Irkutsk, Novosibirsk, St Petersburg, Volgograd and Yekaterinburg, effectively adding six key cities in Russia to SriLankan’s network.

From 2 June, Finnair will add its AY code to flights operated by SriLankan between the latter’s Colombo base and Bangkok, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London Heathrow, Paris CDG and Rome, while SriLankan’s UL designator will be placed on connecting services flown by Finnair between the latter’s Helsinki hub and Frankfurt, London Heathrow, Paris CDG and Rome and also between Helsinki and Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm.

Oneworld CEO Bruce Ashby said: “The addition of SriLankan Airlines concludes what has been the biggest and fastest growth programme by any global airline alliance, enabling oneworld to consolidate its position as the first choice global alliance for frequent international travelers the world over. We now generate 26% of all three global alliances revenues.”

SriLankan Airlines’ Chairman Nishantha Wickremasinghe said: “With the world airline industry increasingly focused on alliances, joining oneworld is one of the most significant developments to date for SriLankan Airlines. Joining the alliance will help put SriLankan more firmly on the global aviation map and vastly improve Sri Lanka’s connectivity with the rest of the world, which is vital for our country’s trade and tourism.”

Sourced: TravelDailyNews