Tag Archives: SriLankan Airlines

SriLankan Airlines is expected to play a pivotal role in the country’s economic recovery. Fully owned and backed by the Government of Sri Lanka, the Airline was forced to suspend scheduled services in early April as Sri Lanka took a tough stand on battling COVID-19. Now, with Sri Lanka’s health and safety situation under control, the Airline is ready to take to the skies and connect Sri Lanka with the world again. Discussing the reopening of Sri Lanka’s borders, the Chairman of SriLankan Airlines, Ashok Pathirage said, “Despite the challenges we face, we are looking forward to the reopening. Even though scheduled services were suspended, as the National Carrier, we have been working to provide relief flights to repatriate stranded Sri Lankans and other nationals. We have also been providing much needed cargo facilities to support our export industries and bring down essential emergency equipment and supplies to deal with the pandemic. We have been working around the clock to adapt our operations to meet health & safety guidelines and the challenging requirements of the ‘new normal’.” Ashok Pathirage is one of Sri Lanka’s foremost business leaders and is the founder of the Softlogic Group, a leading Sri Lankan conglomerate. In addition to his role as Chairman of SriLankan Airlines, Pathirage oversees more than 50 market-leading companies with interests in retail, telecommunications, healthcare, finance, IT, leisure and autos. He was invited by the Government of Sri Lanka to assume control of SriLankan Airlines in late 2019, with a view to transforming it into a more profitable and progressive enterprise. Elaborating on the health and safety measures taken by SriLankan Airlines, Pathirage explained, “We have taken every reasonable precaution to minimize …

SriLankan Airlines and Gulf Air have entered into a codeshare partnership with effect from December 18, 2019, significantly enhancing the travel options of their respective valued customers. Under this agreement, SriLankan Airlines will place its ‘UL’ code on Gulf Air’s flights from Bahrain to Colombo, the Greek capital Athens and Larnaca in Cyprus. Gulf Air will in turn place its ‘GF’ code on SriLankan Airlines’ flights from Colombo to Bahrain. Vipula Gunatilleka, Chief Executive Officer, SriLankan Airlines Group added, “We are pleased to enter into this codeshare agreement with Gulf Air. It is part of our strategy to create and strengthen partnerships with airlines of global reputation in terms of quality, service and reliability and we have no doubt that our valued passengers will enjoy their travel with Gulf Air.” Krešimir Kučko, Chief Executive Officer, Gulf Air, said, “We are happy to sign with SriLankan Airlines and increase number of direct flights between the Kingdom of Bahrain and Sri Lanka. With our strong network in the Europe and North Africa, SriLankan Airlines can now offer more destinations to their passengers through our flights with one stop in our fast and efficient hub, Bahrain International Airport.” The codeshare agreement followed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the two airlines and is also intended to further strengthen the longstanding friendship between the two nations of Sri Lanka and Bahrain.

Al Ansari Exchange, the UAE-based foreign exchange and worldwide money transfer company, has recently signed an agreement with SriLankan Airlines, the national carrier of Sri Lanka. According to the terms of the agreement, SriLankan Airlines customers will now be able to make payments through more than 170 UAE-wide Al Ansari Exchange branches. The service will be available during the second quarter of this year onwards. Rashed Ali Al Ansari, General Manager, Al Ansari Exchange, said, “In line with our efforts to enter into corporate partnerships that add value to our clients, we have recently collaborated with the SriLankan Airlines, the national airlines of Sri Lanka. The deal will enable all customers of the airline to process their payments for tickets booked over the phone or via the airline’s website from any of the Al Ansari Exchange branches across the UAE. The extended convenience will also save time and effort for SriLankan passengers.” The signing follows the continuous growth enjoyed by SriLankan Airlines, which is attributed to its equally vibrant tourism industry—ably positioning Sri Lanka as a key tourist destination. Aside from the Sri Lankan travelers, recent figures show that the national carrier has serviced more than 45,000 Indian passengers per year, followed by 36,000 Bangladeshis and around 15,000 British, European and Americans. SriLankan Airlines also ferry around 10,000 UAE nationals and 8,000 Indonesian and Filipino passengers per annum. “SriLankan Airlines is pleased to seal a partnership deal with a reputed foreign exchange service provider such as Al Ansari Exchange, allowing us to serve our customers in the UAE with enhanced convenience. We always strive to ensure a seamless and hassle-free travel experience for our passengers and we will continue to …

SriLankan Airlines, the national carrier of Sri Lanka, has appointed Sharaf Travel as their GSA for Dubai and moved their commercial and business activities to 2nd floor, Sharaf Building, adjacent to Burjuman Metro Station, Bur Dubai, recently.  On the eve of new office opening, following dignitaries graced the occasion: Charitha Yattogoda, Consul General for Sri Lanka in Dubai, Ibrahim Sharaf, Chairman and President Sharaf Group, Siva Ramachandran, Chief Commercial Officer SriLankan Airlines,  V. Jayaram, Managing Director Sharaf Travels, Veersen Tamhane, Managing Director Sharaf Cargo (GSA – SriLankan Airlines Cargo UAE) and Desiree Premachandra, Country Manager UAE, SriLankan Airlines. Part of the Sharaf Group conglomerate, Sharaf Travel is one of the leading TMCs of the region. For over two decades, the General Sales Agency division has established and nurtured long and enduring partnerships with 21 leading airlines from all over the world; representing all of them in the UAE, some in Oman, and a few in other GCC countries. An ISO compliant company with certifications in ISO 9001-2008 Quality Management, ISO 14001-2004 Environmental Management, and OHSAS 18001/2007 Health and Safety, Sharaf Travel has played an integral role in driving Sales and Marketing strategies for its principal partners across multiple channels, robust business continuity plans to ensure regular revenue streams, and contribute towards their overall profitability. SriLankan Airlines, commenced flights to Dubai 35 years ago, which is almost from the time of its inception in 1979 and known then as Air Lanka, and still continues today operating a direct daily flight to the emirate of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, deploying a combination of its Airbus 330, A320 and A321 aircraft.

SriLankan Airlines, the national carrier and a member airline of oneworld, has launched its new Arabic website, providing its Middle Eastern travellers an enhanced and personalised browsing experience. The new site is equipped with advanced features to provide a comprehensive web experience, allowing the users the convenience of fulfilling travel preliminaries at their fingertips, offering them the opportunity to independently control their own bookings. In addition to that, travellers can also instantly claim the online offers that SriLankan launches and make their payments via credit card, earning more credit in the process. In celebration of the launch of its Arabic site in the native language, SriLankan is offering its passengers a discount of 30 per cent on all online bookings out of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and UAE, to SriLankan’s directly operated destinations right in time for Ramadan celebrations. Bookings can be made till July 10 and the travel period will be from July 25 to November 30. This seasonal offer is the ideal chance for Middle Eastern travellers to go out on a vacation or for purchasing air tickets for expatriate workers.

Qatar Airways and SriLankan Airlines, both members of the oneworld alliance, have strengthened their cooperation with a bilateral code-share relationship.The airlines will code-share on flights between their respective hubs – Qatar Airways’ thrice daily Airbus A340-600 operations to Colombo and SriLankan Airlines’ daily Airbus A330-300 flight to Doha. The combination of four daily flights between Doha and Colombo will offer customers additional convenience and flexibility. Passengers travelling to Colombo on Qatar Airways now have additional connectivity to the popular holiday hotspot Male, in the Maldives. SriLankan Airlines passengers can also now transit through Doha’s Hamad International Airport and travel onwards, subject to government approvals, to 20 leisure and business destinations, including Amsterdam, Barcelona, Paris, Copenhagen, Moscow, Rome, Frankfurt, Geneva, Manchester, Milan, Oslo, Sofia, Stockholm, Vienna, Zurich, New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Bahrain and Cape Town. Travellers will also benefit from accruing frequent flyer miles, together with other oneworld privileges such as access to spacious lounges, extra baggage allowances, priority check-in and boarding, fast track security lanes and special fares across both carriers’ networks.