Business

Monday August 10, 2009

Second SriLankan daily flight via KL-Colombo route soon

By B.K. SIDHU


KUALA LUMPUR: SriLankan Airlines plans to introduce a second daily flight on the Kuala Lumpur-Colombo route by end October in anticipation of higher traffic volumes despite the move by AirAsia X to ply that route at the end of this week.

“We do not see them (AirAsia) as a threat but a boost to awareness. We will take this as a good challenge, given the changing economic environment but you cannot make an apple-to-apple comparison as we are a full-service carrier and they are low-cost.

“These are two different products,’’ SriLankan Airlines manager for Malaysia Niran Seneviratne (inset) told StarBiz, adding that the market was “big enough for many players”.

With improved stability boosting trade and economic activities in Sri Lanka, more airlines would want to connect to Colombo, he added.

Niran said the airline offered a lot more that what a low-cost carrier could. Apart from 30kg of baggage, there was flexibility in changing flights, meals on board and no flight delay.

The second frequency would allow the airline to provide better connections for passengers wanting to go beyond Colombo. It would be an early morning flight which would offer sufficient time for any connectivity to Europe, the Middle East and even India.

“We are in finalising the second frequency,’’ Niran added.

The current daily flight leaves at 2pm and arrives in Colombo at 3.15pm.

Besides AirAsia X, Malaysia Airlines also flies three times daily to Colombo via Male.

Niran expects SriLankan Airlines to continue with its current load factor of 85% in the future, given that the “economic climate is improving and buying power increasing’’.

It currently carries a wide segment of the market from leisure to business travellers, migrant workers and even Haj pilgrims that go to Jeddah via Colombo. A lot of the airline’s traffic also goes to many points in India, with Chennai being a favourite stop via Colombo.

“With two flights, we would be able to offer faster connections to the world and it is also very good for time-sensitive cargo such as perishable goods,’’ Niran said.

The airline has dropped its fares from RM1,240 to RM900 for all-inclusive return airfare on economy class. Its all-inclusive return airfare on business class is about RM5,340.

Niran said the fares would unlikely come down further despite AirAsia X offering a quarter-to-half the fare quoted by SriLankan for a flight to Colombo.

Since some of the daily flights are via Singapore, he is also considering selling the KL-Singapore sector and is working out a pricing package to attract travellers to take up seats available on this sector.

Like other carriers, the challenges ahead for SriLankan Airlines are rising costs and falling yields.

“These are external issues affecting us and we have to be mindful of how we manage yields and our costs,’’ Niran said.

SriLankan Airlines is 60%-owned by the Sri Lanka government and 40% by Emirates Airlines.

  • E-mail this story
  • Print this story