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...Later this year, SriLankan Airlines will become a member of the oneworld alliance, a club of 13 airlines which collaborate by selling tickets on each other’s flights. “Right now we are servicing 62 destinations. Overnight it will be close to 800 destinations,” says Mr Chandrasena. His airline already has codeshare agreements with three oneworld members, S7 Airlines (from Russia), Malaysia Airlines and Royal Jordanian Airlines. He is confident that such partnerships will be extended to other members—hopefully including industry goliaths British Airways, American Airlines and Cathay Pacific.
The easier it becomes for European, American and Asian holidaymakers to fly to Colombo, the more Sri Lanka benefits, irrespective of whether they arrive on a SriLankan Airlines plane. Mr Chandrasena reckons that inbound flight bookings have an economic multiplier of eight. This, he thinks, puts the financial losses of his airline into perspective. “SriLankan Airlines itself contributes about 2.2% of GDP,” he estimates. “As more and more tourists are coming, we have a more tourism-dependent economy.”
Increasing the number of direct flights to the island is therefore crucial for Sri Lanka, and teaming up with oneworld marks a cost-effective step forward. But the flag carrier is also looking beyond its own borders. It already operates more than 80 flights a week to eight Indian cities. If it can increase those and, say, add extra flights to the Maldives, it thinks Colombo could become a hub for the sub-region.
More ambitiously, Mr Chandrasena wants the capital to become a bridging point between China and Africa. “We see major high-volume traffic flows between Asia and Africa, and especially China and Africa,” he says. “From a geographical point of view, the shortest route is above Sri Lanka.” The jury is still out on this latter goal. SriLankan Airlines may serve four points in China, but it serves none in Africa (notwithstanding a new route to the Seychelles, which is offered by Mihin Lanka, its low-cost affiliate). Mr Chandrasena is keen to add one or two big African hubs to his network, but he admits that a local partner will be required to “fan out across the continent”. Wooing this partner may prove tricky. Ethiopian Airlines already flies to four Chinese destinations and is adding a fifth in March; Kenya Airways has its own partnerships with two Chinese carriers; and South African Airways is likely to favour Etihad, with which it has signed a codeshare agreement, to improve its connections with China...
...Later this year, SriLankan Airlines will become a member of the oneworld alliance, a club of 13 airlines which collaborate by selling tickets on each other’s flights. “Right now we are servicing 62 destinations. Overnight it will be close to 800 destinations,” says Mr Chandrasena. His airline already has codeshare agreements with three oneworld members, S7 Airlines (from Russia), Malaysia Airlines and Royal Jordanian Airlines. He is confident that such partnerships will be extended to other members—hopefully including industry goliaths British Airways, American Airlines and Cathay Pacific.
The easier it becomes for European, American and Asian holidaymakers to fly to Colombo, the more Sri Lanka benefits, irrespective of whether they arrive on a SriLankan Airlines plane. Mr Chandrasena reckons that inbound flight bookings have an economic multiplier of eight. This, he thinks, puts the financial losses of his airline into perspective. “SriLankan Airlines itself contributes about 2.2% of GDP,” he estimates. “As more and more tourists are coming, we have a more tourism-dependent economy.”
Increasing the number of direct flights to the island is therefore crucial for Sri Lanka, and teaming up with oneworld marks a cost-effective step forward. But the flag carrier is also looking beyond its own borders. It already operates more than 80 flights a week to eight Indian cities. If it can increase those and, say, add extra flights to the Maldives, it thinks Colombo could become a hub for the sub-region.
More ambitiously, Mr Chandrasena wants the capital to become a bridging point between China and Africa. “We see major high-volume traffic flows between Asia and Africa, and especially China and Africa,” he says. “From a geographical point of view, the shortest route is above Sri Lanka.” The jury is still out on this latter goal. SriLankan Airlines may serve four points in China, but it serves none in Africa (notwithstanding a new route to the Seychelles, which is offered by Mihin Lanka, its low-cost affiliate). Mr Chandrasena is keen to add one or two big African hubs to his network, but he admits that a local partner will be required to “fan out across the continent”. Wooing this partner may prove tricky. Ethiopian Airlines already flies to four Chinese destinations and is adding a fifth in March; Kenya Airways has its own partnerships with two Chinese carriers; and South African Airways is likely to favour Etihad, with which it has signed a codeshare agreement, to improve its connections with China...
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