Peak season offers for SriLankan Airlines’ passengers as brand new aircraft roll in
With 13 brand new aircraft coming into the country to re-fleet Sri Lankan Airlines’ current 22, the first new plane arrives in Colombo on October 31at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) in Katunayake. In celebrating the arrival of the new aircraft, the national carrier is offering a variety of discounts and baggage allowances for travellers.
Saminda Perera, Regional Manager (Sri Lanka and Maldives) SriLankan Airlines speaking to the Business Times on the sidelines of a media briefing held at the SriLankan Airlines office in World Trade Centre on Monday, said, “A mix of ‘13 Airbus’ of A340-300 and A350-800 were ordered sometime back to replace the current fleet of 22 aircraft, where most of them are A340-300 aircrafts. Also the airline is offering discounts and baggage allowances for the passengers during the peak season which has already started.”
Passengers during the peak season assume that air fares increase due to heavy traffic in booking tickets and it’s the time where the airline makes money. The reality is that most airlines offer baggage allowances which increases the weight carried by each passenger and the aircraft as a result. The more weight the aircraft carries, more fuel needs to be burnt which creates an extra cost to the airline. To cover up that extra cost the airline increases the air fares as a result, noted Mr. Perera.
He also added that the airline has planned to upgrade the size of the aircraft travelling to Bodh Gaya from Airbus A320 to A340-300 due to the large number of pilgrims visiting the Katina Pinkama to be held there.
SriLankan Airlines is also offering an extra baggage allowance of 15kg per passenger travelling to and from all its European destinations namely London, Paris, Frankfurt, Rome and Moscow (who carry winter clothes which weighs more than any other) both in Economy and Business Class at no extra charge.
SriLankan Airlines is also adding the fourth Chinese destination to Kunming to its global route map. The national carrier starts operations to the city from December 1. Also the airline has introduced a range of discounted fares to Tokyo and Singapore (offer valid till 30th November), special economy class return fares to Shanghai and Beijing and special offers to Bangkok and Mumbai.