Sri Lanka Aviation

SriLankan Airlines commissions new Global Contact Center

SriLankan Airlines said it has launched a 24-hour Global Contact Center which will further enhance levels of service for all its worldwide customers and members of its frequent flyer programme.

Ajith Dias, Chairman of SriLankan Airlines, said: “We have sharply enhanced our focus on the needs of our customers as an integral part of our effort to expand our business and bring SriLankan Airlines to profitability.”

“I am confident that our new Global Contact Centre, which would be the first point of contact for many of our passengers, will tremendously increase levels of convenience and go a long way towards delighting our customers.”

The new centre will provide services for all SriLankan Airlines’ passenger operations. The airline’s main contact number 1979, reachable from any fixed line or mobile in Sri Lanka, remains the same.

SriLankan Airlines’ Chief Executive Officer, Captain Suren Ratwatte, said: “We at SriLankan Airlines have in recent months been enhancing our product and taking our services to the very doorstep of customers through an enhanced website, sophisticated new mobile app and new ticket offices throughout Sri Lanka.

“Our Global Contact Centre has been designed to provide a level of service which is in accordance with SriLankan Airlines globally renowned standards in the air and on the ground. It will be comparable to the service that customers receive at our ticket offices, airport services and of course on-board our aircraft. Customer service and safety are our top priorities and this centre is proof of our commitment”

The centre is fully equipped to handle a wide range of customer service functions including 24×7 Call & Email handling; Skype facilities; Direct Dial numbers for selected online destinations; customized services for individual Flysmiles members; automated Flysmiles balance enquiries, last transaction details and mileage expiry for FlySmiLes members; enhanced monitoring and reporting of data and report generation from the state-of-the art ‘Genesys’ Contact Centre system; and a social media monitoring capability. A Chat Facility will be activated shortly.

The centre is in compliance with international standards on Data Security and Contact Centre Operations. It is expected to shortly be certified for ISO 27001 Information Security Standards, PCI-DSS v3.2 for Call Centre Systems and Environment and Industry Certification on Call Centre Processes (Service Capability & Performance certification). It is also equipped for Fraud Management on all transactions and contains a full-fledged Disaster Recovery Site.

Located at the Iceland Business Centre Premises in Colombo 3, the Global Contact Centre will be operated by Scicom which is based in Malaysia with its fully own subsidiary in Sri Lanka We look forward to a long and mutually beneficial partnership with SciCom in this and other areas of our business.

http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/s...ontact-centre/

Sri Lanka in talks with AerCap to cancel three A350s

SriLankan Airlines is in talks with AerCap, a Dutch aviation lender to cancel orders to lease three Airbus A350 aircraft which did not suit its network and was too expensive to operate, a top official said.

One A350 is due in October, but SriLankan no longer wants to aircraft.

"We cannot operate them. We will make a bigger loss if we try to operate them," SriLankan Chairman Ajith Dias told reporters.

SriLankan has already cancelled one aircraft leased from AerCap paying a penalty of 17.5 million dollars.

The aircraft was ordered by the ousted Rajapaksa regime, when ex-President Mahinda Rajapaksa's brother-in-law Nishantha Wickremasinghe was chairman.

SriLankan had ordered another 4 A350s directly from Airbus.

My guess would be Mihin is sending two aircraft back to lessor by the end of January 2017. First of all A321 (MRC) is leaving the fleet in October 2016 and A319 or A320 (MRF or MRE) leaving the fleet in January 2017.

SriLankan Airlines launches direct flights to Lahore

Sri Lanka's national carrier, SriLankan Airlines will be starting the direct flights to Lahore from 27th September 2016. According to Wikipedia, Lahore is the capital city of Pakistani province of Punjab. It is the second-largest metropolitan area in Pakistan with an estimated population of 10,052,000, making it the 27th largest urban city in the world. The city is located in the north east part of Punjab province near the border with India. Lahore is ranked as a Gamma+ world city, and is one of Pakistan's wealthiest cities with an estimated total nominal GDP of $58.14 billion.

SriLankan Airlines will be offering twice a week flights to Lahore operating every Tuesdays and Thursdays and the frequency of the flights are to be increased subject to the demand. SriLankan flight UL185 will be departing from Colombo every Tuesdays and Thursdays at 08:10hours in the evening and arriving in Lahore at 11:35 in the evening. The Return flights (UL186) from Lahore departing every Wednesdays and Fridays at midnight 12:35am and arriving in Colombo at 05:05 in the early morning. The flight will be operated onboard Airbus Industrie A320 aircraft. Reservation is now open on the SriLankan Airlines Website. Flying hours from Colombo to Lahore is 4 hours and the same duration for the Lahore to Colombo flight. The Flight Schedule have been prepared to support the passengers who fly between Far East and Pakistan via Colombo.

Currently Colombo and Lahore route being served by Mihin Lanka which will handover the Lahore route to Sri Lanka's full service carrier SriLankan Airlines.

Source : Air Sri Lanka Forum. Do not copy the news from our website.

I think Mihin Lanka is doing good I notice Dhaka, Lahore doing well.

With the cancellation of CDG and FRA what are the destinations that UL fly to where they need a crew change for the inbound?

Off the top of my head I can think of LHR, NRT and the 6 Chinese destinations. Are there any other destinations that are bordering on the legal limit for flight deck crew, like KWI?

Thats it...

Issue is just not on the route it is overall accumulated losses and the interest paid on them.

Even for destinations like KWI?

CMB-KWI block time is 5.5 Hrs. So do they have a three man flight deck crew (2 captains + 1 FO) ?

I never saw any crew change for the flight CMB - RUH (same flight time 5hrs and 20min)...they used to carry a relief crew/member on flight for the overnight return. I think as per the new management...even @PVG there won't be any crew changes

When MRE leaves? Sep or Jan?

Thanks!

http://www.dailymirror.lk/115554/Wor...t-not-informed

What a sad state of affairs!

What is the international law on testing pilots?

Can it be done randomly at the discretion of their employer or the airport authorities they operate to / from, or should there be grounds for it, like erratic behavior or smell of intoxication (reasonable doubt)?

Random tests are allowed.

These can be initiated by the Airline or by the CAA through the airport authority.

There is no requirement for any prior signs of intoxication to be present - however if there is suspicion of intoxication then these tests will be done automatically.

You cannot refuse them as operating crew member.