SriLankan Airlines joins ‘oneworld’ alliance in mega launch at Mattala
View(s):SriLankan Airlines this week joined the ‘oneworld’ alliance in a mega launch at the Mattala International airport on Wednesday.
The event has been enhanced by the airline offering special double miles offer for frequent flyers from May 1.
The 300,000 members of SriLankan’s FlySmiLes loyalty programme will receive twice their usual FlySmiLes miles when flying on most oneworld partners between 15 May and 30 June 2014, the airline said in a media statement.
Stewardess of all ‘oneworld’ alliance members pose for a group picture at the Mattala airport launch.
Similarly, members of most established oneworld airlines’ loyalty programmes will receive double the normal mileage awards/points when flying on SriLankan during the “welcome” period.
oneworld member airlines include Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, Malaysia Airlines and Qantas from Asia; Qatar Airways and Royal Jordanian from the Middle East; British Airways, Finnair, Iberia, airberlin and Russia’s S7 Airlines from Europe and American Airlines, US Airways, LAN Airlines and TAM Airlines from the Americas.
Together as part of oneworld, these airlines serve almost 1,000 airports in 150 countries, with 14,250 daily departures, the statement said.
“From 0001 Colombo time (May 1), cardholders in SriLankan’s FlySmiLes programme will, in effect, have their frequent flyer privileges extended to apply whenever they fly with any oneworld member airline – including earning rewards and tier status points plus the ability to redeem rewards for flights throughout the alliance network,” it said.
FlySmiLes Gold members will be equivalent to oneworld Sapphire, entitling them to use Business Class or frequent flyer lounges offered by oneworld’s member airlines worldwide accompanied by a guest when they travel on any oneworld flight, no matter in which class they are booked. They can also check-in at Business Class desks when they depart on any oneworld flight, irrespective of their class of travel, the national airline said.
| SriLankan carried 4.7 mln passengers last year
Tracing its origins back to 1947, SriLankan Airlines, which becomes part of oneworld, is not only the flag carrier airline for Sri Lanka but also the largest international airline serving the Maldives and with a significant presence in southern India.It has virtually doubled in size since peace returned to its home country four years ago and plans further substantial expansion to its fleet and network in the next few years. Last year the airline carried 4.7 million passengers between its Colombo base and 32 destinations in 20 countries |