SriLankan stops Kunming flights next month
View(s):SriLankan Airlines will be pulling out its operations to Kunming as a result of a poor load factor on this route that has been highly dependent on Chinese travellers alone.
“Since the inception, the Kunming route has been highly dependent on the Chinese tourist market with very less contribution from other network stations, therefore it has very little opportunity to improve its seat load factor,” the airline said in response to an email query.
Airline spokesperson Deepal Perera noted that the non-stop services to Kunming primarily on the Chinese tourist market to Colombo and Male operated a seat factor of 69 per cent for the FY 2016/17. It reduced to 65 per cent during April 2017/18.
It was pointed out that the “unfavourable seat load factors were not sufficient to cover the total route costs,” as a result of which the national carrier has incurred “continuous loses” on this route.
After discontinuing flights to Kunming from March 1, the narrow-bodied aircraft would be deployed to other destinations. The airline is continuing its four non-stop flights each to Beijing and Shanghai, daily non-stop to Guangzhou and five weekly nonstop to Hong Kong on single aisle aircraft. On average the airline deploys an average seat capacity of 4500 seats one way per week to China excluding Kunming. (SD)