Financial Times

SriLankan Airlines, referring to an article that appeared in The Sunday Times FT of August 6 headlined “SriLankan obstructs progress of national aviation”, says there were several factual errors in that article. In a response it said:

SriLankan Airlines has been in the forefront of developing Sri Lanka’s civil aviation industry since the company was founded in 1979, and especially since it was privatised in 1998. With domestic aviation operating under several security constraints over the years which have stunted the growth of local private operators, it has been left mainly to the National Carrier to bring about expansion in the industry.

The airline is therefore constantly searching for new avenues to further the progress of the aviation industry, the tourism industry, and the country and has invested consistently and heavily towards this end over the years. Our policy is to closely support the government whenever possible, and we have done so continuously with successive governments since 1998.

SriLankan Airlines is one of the most active organizations in promoting Sri Lanka among global tourists, from India to the United Kingdom.

The airline has contracted 20 public relations and advertising firms to carry out image-building campaigns in key markets. We are constantly searching for new markets for the country’s tourism industry, and have been instrumental in popularizing the country for travellers from India, where we now serve nine destinations.

The airline played a key role in persuading tourists to return to the island, following the Tsunami, when we invested heavily and partnered Sri Lanka Tourism in a major global marketing campaign. We continue to play a role in virtually every publicity campaign, partnering various government entities such as the Board of Investment and the Export Development Board, and the private sector.

In recent times, SriLankan Airlines’ investments include the sophisticated Business Class Lounge at the Bandaranaike International Airport where we provide ground services, the Baggage Reconciliation System at BIA, a number of new services introduced to increase passenger convenience at the airport, and continuous acquisition of Ground Support Vehicles and Equipment for BIA.

The airline introduced a new dimension to the country’s aviation and tourism industries when it launched the SriLankan Air Taxi amphibious domestic service, which serves 15 destinations, bringing virtually all parts of the country within an hour’s travel for tourists and investors.

We recently launched the International Aviation Academy, which is intended to bring an added dimension to the country’s aviation and travel related services by catering to the manpower requirements of airlines, airports, travel agents, and other aviation industry organizations throughout Asia and beyond. The airline has long provided training for Sri Lanka’s own travel and tourism industries and has agreements with the Travel Agents Association of Sri Lanka and the Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators, to name a few of the professional associations we assist.

We are also diversifying further into providing third party aircraft maintenance for other airlines, foreign and local, and have invested heavily in upgrading the facilities at SriLankan Engineering towards this end.

The SriLankan Airlines Group has invested more than 3 billion rupees in a state-of-the-art Flight Kitchen for our subsidiary, SriLankan Catering, which is now in operation.

All of these investments, together with those of the GOSL, have turned Bandaranaike International Airport into the finest in South Asia, as noted time and again by many foreign travellers.

Not one cent has been obtained from the Treasury since the airline was privatized, starting with the replacement of the aging fleet of Lockheed L1011 Tristars with state-of-the-art Airbus A330s without asking for any financial assistance from the government. The airline stood on its own feet even when half its aircraft fleet was destroyed at BIA in 2001; when the resumption of hostilities wiped out tourism to Sri Lanka in 1995; and when the Tsunami sent tourists fleeing from the island. Skyrocketing global fuel prices, Bird Flu, SARS, and war in the Middle East also caused major problems for the aviation industry, which SriLankan dealt with. In contrast, following the aviation crisis after September 11, 2001, many other National Carriers such as Air Canada, Swissair, and Air New Zealand had to be bailed out from the verge of bankruptcy by their governments, though none faced crises like SriLankan did.

Despite all the turbulence, SriLankan progressed steadily on the financial front, and in 2003/04 reported its first ever profit on standalone airline activities. The completion of several finance leases for aircraft this year will result in the airline having fewer financial liabilities.

SriLankan Airlines itself has become a globally recognized award-winning airline. Its accolades include "World's Friendliest Cabin Crew," First Runner-Up for "World’s Best Cabin Staff," "World’s Best Airline" in a survey of Economy class passengers, "World’s Best Inflight Entertainment" for a small airline, "Best Airline in the Central Asia / Subcontinent” for four consecutive years, “Best Airline in South Asia” three consecutive times, and “Best Airline Turnaround of the Year 2004.”

To our knowledge, no foreign airline has withdrawn from Sri Lanka due to dissatisfaction over our services or charges at BIA. However, a number of airlines have done so due to insufficient tourist traffic caused by the volatile security situation.

SriLankan Airlines has not increased its ground handling rates since October 1997. This is despite SriLankan Airlines investing an average of Rs. 200 million each year to acquire new equipment for ground handling services. However, it will be appreciated that some larger airports, due to their greater volumes of business, are able to give lower rates than smaller airports such as ours. BIA has seen a steady expansion in business in recent years, which amounted to a 10% growth in the number of flights handled from 2003/04 to 2004/05. SriLankan’ ground handling services are now utilized by 22 scheduled international airlines and four charter airlines.

The article erroneously states that customer airlines are dissatisfied with SriLankan Catering. On the contrary, SriLankan Catering is enjoying the busiest period in its 25 years in operation, currently serving more than 20 other airlines.

The new Flight Kitchen has tripled its production capacity, which is already almost completely utilized by our customer airlines, and the management of SriLankan Catering is supremely confident of providing services for many more airlines in the future. SriLankan Catering is an ISO certified company, which has won several global culinary accolades such as the Mercury Award.