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SriLankan
Airlines begins flight
to Hyderabad |
Hyderabad, February, 2004:
SriLankan Airlines’ commenced four-times weekly flights to Hyderabad when
UL 175 touched down at the Hyderabad Airport on 22nd February, 2004.
Hyderabad is SriLankan Airlines ninth destination to India.
Sri Lanka’s industry leaders, top travel agents and tour operators were
flown-in on its inaugural flight to experience a taste of the vibrant city
of Hyderabad. |
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SriLanka Airlines’ is committed to promote Sri Lanka and India as twin
destination holiday centres around its route network. The airline now
offers flights between Colombo and Hyderabad every Monday, Friday,
Saturday and Sunday.
Says SriLankan’s Head of Commercial G T Jeyaseelan: "In the post 9/11
scenario SriLankan is one airline that has been performing well. In the
last two years our average seat factor has been 75%. We thus plan to
aggressively market our home base SriLanka amd neighboring India as twin
holiday destinations. Each offers tremendous value for money and has its
own unique attractions: while India offers the richness of whole
sub-continent, SriLankan offers the rarity of a small island rich in
variety. The two complement each other beautifully."
Jeyaseelan says that the airline will promote Sri Lanka in Andhra Pradesh.
Apart from promoting India as a tourist destination, SriLanka will also
promote Hyderabad in particular around its route network.
India and Sri Lanka in 2003 liberalized air services between their two
countries after a meeting of their Prime Ministers in New Delhi. Under
this agreement there will be increased air access between the two
countries.
India is the country to which SriLanka has the most number of frequencies.
Currently SriLankan offers nearly 60 flights per week to India with daily
services to New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Trichy and Trivandrum and soon
Bangalore.
In 2003 India had the second highest number of visitors to Sri Lanka. In
India, SriLankan Airlines is the foreign carrier with most number of
flights into the country.
SriLanka will soon be adding an Airbus A320 to its fleet for its
operations to India. The Current fleet comprises five A340s, four A330s
and three A320s, Two AN12 freighters and one Cessna Caravan float plane.
The airline plans to offer daily frequencies to all its destinations in
the near future, and also add Beijing to its route network this year
The airline’s two freighters operate a regional services to South Asia and
East Asia.
SriLankan has been winning a string of international aviation awards in
recent times which prove that it is now one of Asia’s leading airlines. In
the last three years ( 2001, 2002 and 2003 ), SriLankan has been voted
Best Airline in Central Asia by UK’s Skytrax Research which each year
conducts the largest passenger survey in the airline industry. In 2001,
this was the airline’s first major accolads since repositioning its
services a world-class carrier. The consecutive victory in 2002 affirms
consistency in world-class service and is a seal of approval from customer
of same.
SriLanka is also First Runner Up for Skytrax Best Cabin Staff award for
2003 and was also voted for the same year by Skytrax as having the
friendliest cabin crew.
In 2003, SriLanka won another prestigious accolade - Best In-flight
Entertainment (for a fleet size of 20 or less) at the annual World Airline
Entertainment Association’s Avion awards in the USA.
February'2004
Reachout's News Bureau
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