Srilankan Airlines Flight Routes

However, the loss-making flagship is not only focussed on the top line, as the CEO, Kapila Chandrasena, has also pledged himself to a five-year turn-around program, and he sees the forthcoming affiliation to the on-eworld partnership as the best instrument for sustainable growth. Last Wednesday SriLankan Airlines reported that it will formally join on-eworld on 1 May 2014 after postponing its joining to allow for IT integrations.

Chandrasena already has codeshare agreements with three members of one world - Malaysia Airlines, Royal Jordanian Airlines and Russia's S7 Airlines - but Chandrasena sees room for closer relations, especially with some of the bigger members of the Alliance. Chandrasena also confirmed that its prospective members of one world will have their own aspirations - "It's not just what we can get from the Allianz, but what we can provide to the Allianz" - so the Businessplan also examines new models for the development of the Colombo metropolis as a turntable.

The SriLankan Airlines global airline hub is strongly focused on South Asia with more than 80 daily departures to eight Indian towns and more than 30 to the Maldives. Some 150 daily departures per week between eight home base locations are also handled by the Airbus aircraft as well as the SriLankan Air Taxi's Cessna Caravans Group. Chandrasena said that the flags' powerful local pillar is its primary offer to on-eworld, which has a "small vacuum" in South Asia.

In addition to the provision of 60 percent of all flight services to Sri Lanka, he described the company as the "de facto principal Maldives airline". The SriLankan Airlines service five European destinations (London, Paris, Frankfurt, Rome and Moscow) and eight Far Eastern destinations (Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore).

She is also strongly represented in the Middle East and flies to Karachi in Pakistan every day. British Airways, S7 Airlines and S7 Airlines, members of British Airways Beach International Airport Online Worldwide, will give the airline a "broader base in Europe", Chandrasena said, attracting more tourists to Sri Lanka. New routes in Europe are largely on the European calendar with a direct emphasis on non-organic expansion.

However, despite this prudent policy, Europe continues to be a crucial destination for SriLankan Airlines. Around 137,000 UK visitors to Sri Lanka last year made it the second largest tourist destination after India. Its 12 daily frequencies per week to London Heathrow represent more than a fourth of its available seating kilometre traffic.

SriLankan Airlines also checks its US routes against possible code shares with oneworld's American Airlines. As the USA is on the other side of the world, "both Atlantic and Pacific" routes are suitable for air travel, according to the CEO. Etihad Airways is currently exchanging code with Etihad Airways to the west and Malaysia Airlines to the east.

Serving two more one-world Asian destinations, Cathay Pacific's Hong Kong and Japan Airlines' Tokyo, it also offers the promise of code-share reviews or even new fifth liberty service offerings. Whilst networking schedulers are working out the most careful one-world packages, SriLankan Airlines is also struggling with how best to grow in China.

This airline already operates flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong and is striving to open up further threshold countries. Until recently, however, the humble start and finish service from China to Sri Lanka required intermediate stops in Bangkok on all four routes, with Beijing and Shanghai being converted to non-stop in March.

To attract more domestic customers, SriLankan Airlines needs to re-develop its hubset. However, in contrast to the local offer, which will benefit one world, China's travelers are likely to travel further westwards to Africa. "Chandrasena said, "We see large volumes flowing between Asia and Africa, especially China and Africa, given the investments China is making on the African continent.

Sri Lanka Airlines has not yet started any connections to Africa (although the low-cost airline Mihin Lanka recently started flying to the Seychelles off the eastern seaboard of Africa). Handrasena said that the top priorities are to ensure that every advance into the continents is backed by "commercial realities". However, Sri Lanka may face a tough battle to persuade an AU to cooperate.

In the last two years Columbo has already invested 225 million dollars in the airline, and now bridge installations are being set up for another 275 million dollars. Between October 2014 and the end of 2015, the airline will be receiving six Airbus A330-300s to enable it to substitute its current Airbus fleet.

In the narrow body segment, two of the airline's eight 2014 aircraft will be upgraded from Airbus A420 to lease A321. "Chandrasena said, "The next replacement will be the A321neos," referring to successive long-term orders. The Mihin Lanka also runs two A321 and one Airbus and will have two Boeing 737-800s in 2015. The net profit of SriLankan Airlines increased by 8 billion Rupees (171 million US dollars) in 2012.

Given that ineworld also offers synergy effects, the company hopes to be in the red by 2017. Footnote: SriLankan Airlines becomes a full member of online world and will be the first company on the subcontinent to become part of all major airlines groups worldwide, providing the full service spectrum of the Allianz as of Thursday, May 1, 2014.

Sri Lanka's domestic carrier obtained permission to join one of the world's premier airlines, one of the world's top airlines for aircraft maintenance, after successfully passing a thorough operational check by Cathay Pacific Airways, which sponsors its joining of the Allianz, with the on-eworld headquarters group. Joining one of the airlines will take place one and a half months after TAM Airlines and US Airways join the Allianz on March 31, 2014, marking the completion of the Group's largest ever program of growth.

Thus two new goals are added to the on-eworld net - Sri Lanka's new Hambantota International and India's Tiruchirapalli.