With SriLankan Airlines management also part of the budget carrier Mihin Lanka, route planning has become better coordinated, a top official said.
Nishantha Wickremesinghe, Chairman of SriLankan Airlines, told the Business Times that they carry out route planning between the two carriers together in order to avoid both flying to the same destination. He noted that Mihin Lanka would be flying to more low cost destinations and in this respect had selected to touchdown at Jakarta, Dhaka, Buddhagaya, Varnasi, Manila and Sharjah.
The budget carrier that was previously operating to Kuwait would be pulling out of this route in a bid to allow SriLankan Airlines to fly in and as a result its shift to Sharjah.
Coordination of routes is also carried out whereby Mihin Lanka would fly into Manila that would carry passengers heading for the Middle East via Colombo. And once in Colombo, these passengers would be transported to their destinations on SriLankan Airlines, he explained.
In future, SriLankan Airlines would seek to operate increased flights that would ensure that by the end of next year the airline would operate daily flights to all its destinations. Aircraft would also be increased at SriLankan Airlines from the current 22 to 30 in the future that would eventually result in a young fleet replacing the old stock by 2015, Mr. Wickremesinghe said. |