SriLankan Airlines Chairman to head APOT, Asia

Becomes the first Sri Lankan to chair APOT, Asia

SriLankan Airlines, Chairman Mr. Nishantha Wickremasinghe has been appointed the Chairman of APOT. Asia (Asia Pacific On-board Travel) from August this year. He will be taking over from Ms. Heather Cho, Senior Vice President of Korean Air Lines Co. Ltd.

Aimed at collectively inventing and improving new strategies to attract more tourists to the region, APOT. Asia is a global body with a member-base ranging from airline in-flight products and service suppliers, airline caterers, catering product suppliers, airline managements, hospitality partners and media organizations.

“I am honoured to be appointed the Chairman of APOT Asia, which is an organization that works extensively towards promoting tourism in the region. This is not a personal achievement or that of the Airline alone. This is a collective effort of the entire country that has been once again recognized at a global forum. As the national carrier, SriLankan Airlines has been working tirelessly towards making Sri Lanka an aviation hub in Asia as set down in the development goals of the Mahinda Chinthana Idiri Dekma programme, introduced by the visionary leadership of President Manhinda Rajapaksa,” said the Chairman-elect Mr. Wickremasinghe.

APOT. Asia has been raising awareness on the region’s tourism potential through educating stakeholders on tourist attractions, business and investment opportunities. It shares, educates and discusses ground-breaking ideas and new tourism trends that can be utilized to increase the number of tourist arrivals.
At the 2014 June Forum in Danang, Vietnam, Mr. Wickremasinghe was among the invited speakers. This year, with SriLankan Airlines’ Chairman at the helm, APOT- Asia is planning to hold its next annual forum in Sri Lanka in 2015 with over 250 delegates in attendance. Commenting on the event, Mr. Wickremasinghe added, “I am confident that the mileage gained out of this could be diverted to further promote the country as an ideal tourist destination that has something in store for any type of traveller and SriLankan Airlines, as the perfect way to get there.”

Mr Wickremasinghe was appointed Chairman of the SriLankan Airlines’ Group which includes SriLankan Catering, in June 2009 on a mandate to take the airline forward and expand its operations in conjunction with an ambitious tourism development plan, envisaged by the present Government of Sri Lanka.
SriLankan Airlines, the National Airline of Sri Lanka, is an award winning carrier with a firm reputation as a global leader in service, comfort, safety, reliability, and punctuality. Launched in 1979, SriLankan is currently expanding and further diversifying its wide range of products and services in order to drive the country’s on-going boom in tourism and economic development. The airline’s hubs are located at Bandaranaike International Airport in Colombo and Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport, Hambantota providing convenient connections to its global route network of 89 destinations in 44 countries in Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Far East, North America, Australia and Africa.

SriLankan Airlines joined oneworld airline alliance on May 1st, this year as the first carrier from the Indian Sub-continent. SriLankan now flies alongside some of the biggest and premier brands in the airline business – airberlin, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LAN, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Royal Jordanian and S7 airlines. Together with its oneworld membership, the flagship carrier of Sri Lanka offers its customers convenient connections to a thousand destinations in over 150 countries, opportunities to earn and redeem frequent flyer miles any oneworld carrier and access to over 500 lounges for top tier frequent flyers.

In the airline world, the Asia Pacific carriers maintain very high standards in in-flight services, a fact which has brought together the industry leaders to further strengthen the relationship among the region’s business partners and associates. Through frequent interactions, the organization facilitates the promotion of the products, services and the destinations of its associates. The speciality of the APOT. Asia’s forums is that they are held in leisure destinations in a relaxed atmosphere where the products and service providers can showcase their products to a larger audience, consisting, travel agents, sales teams and delegates of the aviation and hospitality industries.

SriLankan Airlines and Institute of Supply and Materials Management join hands for a knowledge-sharing venture

SriLankan Airlines and the Institute of Supply and Materials Management (ISMM) signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Wednesday (July 2) to exchange knowledge and facilities for the enhancement of travel and tourism education in the country.

SriLankan Airlines’, Chief Marketing Officer, Mr. G.T. Jeyaseelan and Institute of Supply and Materials Management, President, Mr. Mr Anil Ponweera signed the MoU at SriLankan Airlines Office in Colombo in the presence of the officials of both the institutions.

Under the new agreement, there will be an array of knowledge-exchanging programmes ranging from aviation, travel & tourism industry, Procurement, Logistics and Supply Chain; for the benefit of the students of both institutions who are aspiring to pursue careers in travel and tourism and the industry personnel who are seeking higher educational opportunities.

These programmes are aimed at synergizing core competencies to develop the skills of supply chain professionals to meet the requirements of the aviation industry while setting up a mechanism to generate supply chain professions to be abreast with the high employee turnover due to prevailing high demand in the industry. The focus of the programmes is to develop a succession plan in the critical functional areas such as-In-bound logistics, internal processes, outbound logistics, warehousing and inventory management. The courses are intended to cater to the emerging needs in relations to logistics and supply chain in the country, thereby contributing to the expansion of the national carrier and the establishment of new air services.

The International Aviation Academy (IAA) of SriLankan Airlines has been a pioneering training body in South Asia that also has received a prestigious recognition from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), as one of the World’s Top Ten Authorised Aviation Training Centres of its 2013 Premier Circle – an assessment made on the evaluation of 440 aviation training centres in 90 countries.

Founded on 24th October 1972, Institute of Supply & Materials Management (ISMM) is the leading specialized institution which fosters the professional development of Purchasing and Supply function in Sri Lanka. The ISMM is affiliated to the International Federation of Purchasing and Supply Management based in Switzerland which is the world body encompassing 45 national associations having more than 200,000 professionals engaged in Purchasing and Supply Chain Management.

MRIA earned only Rs.16,000 for May

The Government informed Parliament today that the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) earned approximately Rs. 16,000 as revenue during the month of May.

Responding to a question posed by UNP MP Dr. Harsha de Silva, Minister of Civil Aviation Priyankara Jayarathne said that it will take time for the airport to earn its full potential.

He said that according to details in his possession in Parliament today, the Mattala airport earned Rs. 16, 185 during the month of May.

Dr. Harsha de Silva then asked how long it would take for the Mattala airport to earn revenue on par with the Gatwick Airport in England as predicted by the Government.

The Minister responded saying it would take time and that discussions are already underway between Sri Lanka and several other international airlines to make Mattala one of their landing airports.

The Minister later accused the UNP of dreaming that the Mattala airport will one day be a museum. He insisted that the airport will soon be a profit making project of the Government.

colombogazette.com

SriLankan to Start A330-300 Operations from November 2014

SriLankan Airlines in Winter 2014/15 season is introducing 1st Airbus A330-300 aircraft to its fleet, which sees the new A330 variant operating following routes.

eff 15NOV14 Colombo – Frankfurt A330-300 operates on 4 of 5 weekly

UL553 CMB0101 – 0725+0 FRA 333 135

UL553 CMB0101 – 0725+0 FRA 332 7

UL557 CMB1206 – 1830+0 FRA 333 6

UL554 FRA1420 – 0441+1 CMB 333 135

UL554 FRA1420 – 0441+1 CMB 332 7

UL558 FRA1950 – 1011+1 CMB 333 6

airlineroute.net

MRIA earns 10.5 million dollars during last 15 months

The Mattala Rajapaksa international airport has earned an income of 10.5 million dollars during last 15 months by providing fuel to aircrafts.

The Mattala Airport has the ability to facilitate world’s largest passenger airbus A380 and world’s largest cargo aircraft AN-225. Leading international aviation services are maintaining services with the Mattala international airport.

The Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport has opened its doors to the world. This new and unique international hub promises to spearhead and facilitate the development in both the Southern and Eastern regions of Sri Lanka. The brainchild of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, this second international airport, built as an unique eco-project, is set to transform the fast changing Southern and Eastern regions of the island.

Sri Lanka state airlines lose Rs21bn

Annual loss of SriLankan Airlines is increased upto 21 billion and it was 19 billion in the last year.  This was mentioned in the report presented to the parliament last week.  This was happened due to the increase of expenses and however the income of the company is increased than last year.

‘ada’ newspaper

Special Airport security rehearsal at BIA

A rehearsal on the actions to be taken if an accident takes place was held at the BIA Katunayake recently.  There were many Air Force soldiers involved in the rehearsal.  SriLankan Airlines flight came from Dubai was taken for this special rehearsal.

This was organized after the aircraft accidents in Ukraine and Thaiwan.

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BIA among the most inefficient in Asia

The Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) has been rated as one of the most inefficient international airports in Asia.

The rating has been done by the Airport Transport Research Society (ATRS) and is included in the Annual Global Airport Benchmarking Report.

The Air Transport Research Society released the results of its annual benchmarking study of commercial airports in Europe, Asia and the Pacific, and North America. Based on a rigorous analysis of airport cost and revenue data, the ATRS benchmarking study assessed the productivity and efficiency of nearly 200 airports and selected the most efficient airports in each of the regions, as well as the most efficient airport, overall.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta, GA, won their 11th top efficiency excellence award this year during the 12 year history of ATRS airport efficiency awards which began in 2003.

Other top performers in North America include Charlotte and Oklahoma City airports. In Canada, Vancouver and Calgary International Airports are in the top of the list of Canadian airports.

This year, Copenhagen Airport won the top productivity and highly efficient airport in Europe. Three of Korea’s 14 airports, managed by Korea Airports Corp. (KAC), were named among the most efficiently operated airports in Asia.

The Kansai International Airport in Japan and Nagoya Airport of Japan and the Bandaranaike International Airport of Sri Lanka were found to be the most inefficient in Asia.

colombogazette.com

12th Issue of ‘Guwansara’ Magazine

After eleven successful issues, Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka released its 12 issue of ‘Guwansara’ aviation magazine last week. The quarterly magazine is mainly targeting the school children in rural areas and distributing among 3,300 school libraries and government officials in Sri Lanka free of charge.

Sri Lanka and Singapore to establish a pilot training school at Mattala airport

The Sri Lankan government has taken steps to establish a pilot training school at the newly opened Mattala Airport in the Southern Province, Minister of Civil Aviation Priyankara Jayaratne said.

The pilot training school is to be started as a joint venture of Singapore’s state owned Institute of Aerospace Engineers and Colombo International Nautical and Engineering College (CINEC).

Sri Lanka government has coordinated inter government talks in this regard, the Minister stated.

The Minister also said that several rounds of talks had been held regarding the establishment of the pilot training school and the Ministry has taken steps to allocate the land to the institute.

The Minister pointed out that there is a great demand for pilot training and said that it will save foreign exchange and also attract foreign students.

colombopage.com

Mihin Lanka shifts Cargo GSA office

Mihin Lanka, Sri Lanka’s national low-cost carrier recently shifted its cargo operation to a newly refurbished office managed by its cargo network partner, Fits Air in Sri Lanka. The new office building is located at No. 6, 2nd Floor, Joseph Lane, Colombo 4 and the opening ceremony was attended by the senior management and staff of Mihin Lanka and Fits Air, including Head of Commercial Rohan Perera, Head of Finance Sajiva Suwaris, Head of Sales, Mihin Lanka Asanka Fernando, Managing Director Shafik Kassim, CEO Omar Kayaam, and Chief Operating Officer, Fits Air Sam Samarasinghe.

Commenting on Mihin Cargo’s new office, Head of Commerical, Mihin Lanka Rohan Perera stated, “Mihin Cargo focuses on delivering a seamless cargo service that is intended to be completely hassle-free for our customers. We also strive to offer a variety of cargo options to meet the diverse needs and requirements of our customers. Flying to nine destinations, Mihin Cargo provides customers with one of the most extensive import and export networks in the region. Our partnership with Fits Air also enables us to offer our customers a more diverse cargo network and a greater choice of products and services. Mihin Cargo is dedicated to delivering a high quality cargo service that is affordable, convenient and meets the varied needs of its customers.”

Mihin Lanka’s Cargo services include the Cargo Express Service, an export service that allows Mihin Lanka (MJ) customers to handover shipments two hours prior to the departure of a flight. With this service, Mihin Cargo ensures that a staff member assists customers with the handling of all shipments within a short period of time. The Personal Effect Service accepts shipments weighing up to 300kg. The shipment can be handed over at the Mihin Cargo office and a staff member then handles customs clearance on behalf of the customer. Finally, the Cargo Express Service provides a general cargo shipment facility that enables customers to import shipments weighing less than 1000kg. Mihin Cargo also arranges the delivery of all shipments within 50km of Colombo’s city center. Mihin Lanka works closely with its cargo and logistics partner Fits Air to provide customers with a variety of import and export options.

Mihin Lanka cargo currently exports Perishables to the Middle East and garments from the local market to Bangladesh. The airline recently commenced operations in to Seychelles and now also offers greater opportunities for local shippers to export Sri Lankan products to the island and optimize trade opportunities between Sri Lanka and the Seychelles. Mihin Lanka is a leading low-cost airline in South Asia that operates across many destinations in the Indian subcontinent, the Middle-East and South East Asia.

nation.lk

National Kites Festival gets off the ground; event graced by the President

The National Kites Festival 2014 was held in seven locations around the country on Sunday on the theme National unity through social integration.

The main function of the National Kites Festival was held at the Galle Face Green. The event was graced by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The National Kites Festival which is being organised by the Ministry of National Languages and Social Integration is being held in collaboration with News1st, UNDP, UN volunteers and Kites Sri Lanka.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa who arrived at the Galle Face Green joined the national kites festival with Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara.

The public then received the opportunity to take part in the National Kites Festival displaying national unity.

According to the Ministry of National Languages and Social Integration kites have been in Sri Lankan culture for a long period of time and therefore it serves to promote the theme of national unity through social integration.

Another phase of the event allowed individuals to cook and consume various cultural delicacies.

Subject Minister Vasudewa Nanayakkara addressed those gathered at the event.

A cultural show was also held at the event with the aim of promoting social integration.

A national languages stall was set up at the site of the event in-order to create better awareness on the national languages in Sri Lanka.

The National Kite Festival also saw events being held in Batticaloa, Galle, Hambantota, Jaffna, Mannar and Mullaitivu in line with the main event in Colombo.

newsfirst.lk

New office building for CAASL

Civil Aviation Authority is going to construct a new office building at Naikanda, Katunayake. At present the Authority is located in No.04, Hunupitiya Road, Colombo 02 on rent basis.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka was established under the Civil Aviation Authority Act No.34 of 2002 on 27th December 2002.

SriLankan Airlines selects Accelya’s eSmash

SriLankan Airlines, the national carrier of Sri Lanka wants to monitor their market share in their key markets across the globe. The airline will use eSmash across Europe, Middle East, Far East and Indian sub-continent, among others to do this job.

SriLankan Airlines have doubled its passenger volume in last 4-years and have aggressive plans to grow their passenger count. With eSmash, SriLankan Airlines will be able to monitor their regional as well as global market share by origin & destination, agent, issue month and class. It will also help the regional and station managers to identify their loyal sales agents and prospective agents.

“SriLankan Airlines has been constantly looking for ways and means to expand its reach globally. In this endeavor, we believe eSmash service will provide us accurate information on the airline’s market share; specifying our strength in our prime markets. Thus, we have decided to use eSmash in all our key markets across the globe”, said Mr. Lal Perera, Head of Worldwide Sales, SriLankan Airlines.

“We are confident that eSmash will provide insights to SriLankan Airlines to support them in their expansion plans and manage their global and regional sales strategy”, said Emmanuel de Lassagne, General Manager – Airline Business Intelligence Solutions, Accelya.

Accelya’s eSmash is the most accurate market share analysis solution for airline station managers and sales teams. It is a web-based solution and provides instant information on airline market share versus the competition, at a few clicks. eSmash enables superior decision-making to improve market share and be more competitive.

Over 120 airlines globally use eSmash to monitor their market share.

eturbonews.com

SriLankan Airlines to operate from Terminal 3 at Heathrow

SriLankan Airlines flights to London will operate from Terminal 3 of Heathrow International Airport from July 16, 2014, it was announced here last week.

At present, SriLankan operates from Terminal 4. To announce the change, public notices were placed in all five Terminals at Heathrow in the English, Sinhala and Tamil languages.

island.lk

‘The Sky Gallery’ opens at SLAF base Katunayake

Under the patronage of the Base Commander SLAF Base Katunayake Air Commodore SK Pathirana, The No 26 Regiment Wing took over the challenge to construct “The Sky Gallery” with available recourses at SLAF Base Katunayake to facilitate all personnel and their families to observe the Bandaranayake International Airport and its flight operations. “The Sky Gallery” was declared open by the Base Commander on 3rd July 14 and all Commanding Officers, Officers, Airmen with their families participated in the inauguration ceremony.

airforce.lk

Aviation Awareness Programme at Dudley Senanayake College

A special Aviation Awareness Programme was held at the Dudley Senananayke College premises today. This was organized by the INFOTECHS (Pvt.) Ltd. A lecture on Introduction to Aviation and a model flying show also done by Formy Flyers. Approximately 300 students were participated at the lecture whilst about 1,000 students were participated at the Air Show.

Mr. Susantha Pinto, Chairman of INFOTECHS, Ms. Michelle Pinto, Group General Manager and Ms. Ramya Weerakoon, Vice President – INFOTECHS have participated at this event.

Cinnamon Air celebrates First Anniversary

Cinnamon Air completes its first year of scheduled domestic air services

Cinnamon Air (www.cinnamonair.com), Sri Lanka’s premier domestic airline completes one year of scheduled passenger operations on the 1st of July 2014. The airline, operating in code-share with the National Carrier SriLankan Airlines, conducted its first scheduled domestic flight between the Bandaranaike International Airport and Koggala Lagoon on 1st July 2013 and has grown significantly since then.

During the past year, Cinnamon Air carried over 4000 passengers on 900 scheduled flights to 8 regular destinations and operated over 175 charter flights to 20 destinations. 10 of the destinations served were water aerodromes, making Cinnamon Air the first domestic carrier to commercially serve such a diverse range of inland points in Sri Lanka and the only scheduled airline to do so out of Colombo’s international airport 

Commending Cinnamon Air on its completion of one year of operations, Mr H M C Nimalsiri, Director General of Civil Aviation and CEO of the Civil AviationAuthority of Sri Lanka said, “Airspace above us is a public asset which has vast potential to contribute
in many aspects for the socio economic development of Sri Lanka. With the use of correct equipment, aviation can cater to any community in any part of the island having different needs. Floatplane is one such equipment which does not require dedicated land space but use existing water bodies to connect the affluent tourists and business traffic with remote areas with full of natural beauties where resources are scarce. It enables the flow of wealth, industries and employment to the needy people in such areas with least disturbance to the environment. In that context, the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka wholeheartedly appreciates the very bold initiative and courage shown by Cinnamon Air, Saffron Aviation for investing in the operation of inland floatplane services which is vital part for development of internal air transport network. The Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka wishes them all the success at the time their operations complete one year of eventless operations.”

Commenting on the occasion of the first anniversary of the airline, Ajit Gunewardene, Chairman, Saffron Aviation (owners and operators of Cinnamon Air) and Deputy Chairman of JKH stated that, “The advent of scheduled services by Cinnamon Air has been widely applauded by the trade both locally and internationally, with many of the largest travel companies offering Sri Lanka in Europe and the Middle East featuring Cinnamon Air as an option to their customers. Whilst we are pleased that Cinnamon Air has reached this important milestone with encouraging numbers for a start-up service, we are cognizant of the fact that there is much more to be done to grow the awareness of the product and thereby passenger numbers, in order to achieve the challenging goals that the joint venture partners of Cinnamon Air envisioned at the outset. We look forward to working with all stakeholders locally and internationally towards maintaining this vital offering in the overall tourism infrastructure of Sri Lanka”.

Elaborating on plans for the future, Romesh David, Director, Cinnamon Air said, “the year ahead will see Cinnamon Air continuing to grow its offering with a range of innovative products and some interesting new destinations. This will include the launch of “Cinnamon Air Holidays” a set of unique “fly/drive” tour options covering large swathes of the country in a short period of time, “Explorer’s Pass” for visitors wanting multiple flight options with no restrictions and the creation of a water aerodrome in the beautiful Dutch Bay Lagoon at Kalpitiya to facilitate scheduled and charter flights to the northwest coast of Sri Lanka for the first time”.

All Cinnamon Air scheduled flights operate in code share with SriLankan Airlines, consequent to which they are also be available for sale throughout the SriLankan Airlines network and all Travel Agents around the world via Global Distribution Systems, under a “UL” designated flight number.

Cinnamon Air, owned and operated by Saffron Aviation (Pvt) Limited, is a joint venture between Sri Lanka’s largest listed conglomerate, John Keells Holdings, MMBL Leisure Holdings (a part of the Mercantile Merchant Bank Group) and Phoenix Ventures (parent of Phoenix Industries and the Brandix Group, Sri Lanka’s largest garment manufacturer). The Airline operates a fleet of two Cessna 208 amphibian aircraft and one Cessna 208B Grand Caravan aircraft, with scheduled services to key inland points in Sri Lanka. Cinnamon Air also offers charter services to and between all Airports and Water Aerodromes in Sri Lanka. The Airline is based out of Katunayake where it operates a dedicated domestic terminal (within the precincts of the BIA) and also has its own purpose built hangar and maintenance facilities.

Contact details: – Reservations team, Tel: +94 112475475 or e-mail:
sales@cinnamonair.com or reservations@cinnamonair.com