Financial Times

SriLankan Cargo enhances services with new office in Abu Dhabi
SriLankan Cargo recently opened its newest office, this time in Abu Dhabi, with the aim of providing a more rapid and convenient service to its customers in the Middle East where its operations continue to expand, the airline said in a statement.

The new office, located at the Cargo Terminal in Abu Dhabi Airport, supports SriLankan Cargo’s enhanced operations to the Middle East, especially its increased frequencies into Abu Dhabi.

The airline earlier this year greatly expanded its cargo carrying capacity throughout the Middle Eastern region with the introduction of larger-capacity wide-bodied Airbus A330 aircraft on most of its Middle Eastern flights, replacing the smaller A320 aircraft. “The new Abu Dhabi office is expected to play an important part in supporting SriLankan Cargo’s concept of using Colombo as ‘a Hub in the Ocean’ connecting the Middle East, Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Far East,” said Nalin Rodrigo, Head of Cargo at SriLankan.

SriLankan Airlines also has traffic rights for four return flights between Abu Dhabi and Doha, and three between Abu Dhabi and Bahrain. SriLankan has also increased frequencies into Dubai to 10 per week (two on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, and one on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday), from its earlier daily frequency.

SriLankan said it now offers customers fast and convenient access to the giant Chinese market, having recently expanded its operations into China with thrice weekly A330 flights from Colombo to Beijing via Bangkok.

Apart from the airline’s fleet of Airbus A340, A330 and A320 aircraft, SriLankan Cargo also operates two Antonov AN12F dedicated freighters which each have a capacity of 17 metric tonnes of cargo, and link industrial centres in the Subcontinent region with scheduled services to many Indian cities and the Maldives.

SriLankan Cargo already operates regular freighter services to Chennai (Madras), Bangalore, Coimbatore, Trivandrum, and Male. This is in addition to SriLankan Airlines’ regular flights servicing 49 destinations in 26 countries, including 10 cities in India. SriLankan Cargo also provides trucking services between Coimbatore, Calicut and Kochi (Cochin).

SriLankan is by far the largest foreign carrier operating into India, with 88 flights per week. The airline has positioned Colombo as the gateway to India, and is increasing its services by the end of 2005 to nearly 100 flights to 10 Indian cities – New Delhi, Bombay, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Madras, Trichy, Trivandrum, Calicut, Kochi, and Bodh Gaya – most of them with daily or more frequencies.

SriLankan Cargo will double its handling capacity at Colombo’s Bandaranaike International Airport later this year to cater to its constantly increasing operations. Its Cargo Centre there has already drawn praise for its efficiency, having successfully adopted the Japanese 5S system of management to streamline its operations.

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