SriLankan Airlines Add more Flights to India

19th October 2010, www.lankabusinessonline.com

SriLankan Airlines plans to improve connections to major Indian cities by adding several flights to Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore, a statement said.

The island's national carrier, one of the largest overseas operators into India, will add three more flights a week to Mumbai, and one more to both Chennai and Bangalore, starting December 01.

“We are expanding our operations to India," SriLankan’s Head of Worldwide Sales Mohamed Fazeel said.

"Our aim is to provide several flights a day to all major cities there to allow travellers to choose which time of day they would prefer to fly.

"We intend to add additional flights on each route wherever possible next year.”

SriLankan also recently announced that it will be acquiring seven more aircraft by the end of 2011, including five Airbus A320s that would serve Indian destinations.

December’s additional flights would bring the Mumbai service up to 10 flights a week from the earlier daily frequency.

The additional flights would be on Monday, Thursday and Saturday.

SriLankan Airlines’ service to Chennai would rise to 15 flights a week, with three on Friday, and two on all other days.

Morning flights to Chennai depart Colombo at 7:30 a.m. and arrive at 8:50 a.m. Departure from Chennai is at 10:30 a.m, arriving in Colombo at 11:50 a.m.

Evening flights leave Colombo at 6:35 p.m, arriving in Chennai at 7:55 p.m. The return flight departs Chennai at 8:55 p.m. and touches down in Colombo at 10:15 p.m.

Friday’s third flight leaves Colombo at 12:50 p.m., and arrives in Chennai at 2:10 p.m. It leaves Chennai at 3:10 p.m, and arrives back in Colombo at 4:20 p.m.

Flights to Mumbai depart Colombo daily at midnight and reach their destination at 2:20 a.m. The return flight leaves Mumbai at 3:20 a.m. and arrives in Colombo at 5:40 a.m.

The additional three flights on Monday, Thursday and Saturday are in the evenings, departing Colombo at 4 p.m. and touching down in Mumbai at 6:20 p.m. They leave Mumbai at 7:10 p.m. and arrive back in Colombo at 9:40 p.m.

The additional flight to Bangalore would bring it up to a daily frequency.

SriLankan Airlines also has seven flights a week to New Delhi, seven to Trivandrum and 10 to Trichy.

"India is also one of the most popular destinations among Sri Lankan travellers, for everything from leisure to business and studies," the airline statement said.

"Large numbers of businessmen from both countries travel to and fro daily, with India being one of Sri Lanka’s largest trading partners."

Indian visitors make up the largest tourist segment to Sri Lanka, where the tourism industry has been booming since a 30-year war ended in May 2009.

In the first nine months of 2010, a total of 82,342 Indian travellers visited Sri Lanka, a 49 percent increase from the same period in 2009.

The airline said it is also re-launching its domestic service, SriLankan Air Taxi, in November 2010, which would enable visitors to reach any part of the island within an hour.

Also, large numbers of Indian travellers transit Colombo to destinations as far as North America, Europe and the Far East, as well as nearer regions such as the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

Incredible Offers from SriLankan Airline on 62nd Independence. Only 62% of the Fare of Packages to a Range of Destinations.

27th January 2010, www.thebottomline.lk

As the whole of Sri Lanka celebrates the 62nd anniversary of Independence this year, so does SriLankan Airlines, joining into celebrate this joyous occasion with everyone born during that epoch making year, 1948.

It was the year when Ceylon gained freedom from the colonial yoke and a fledgling nation was born. This was a nation full of hope and promise with dreams of a glorious future.

If you were born in 1948, well then it’s celebration time with the “Incredible 62 Independence Extravaganza” from SriLankan Airlines.

All you need to do is to pay only 62% of the current fare of all outbound packages to a range of destinations. And mind you, this includes economy class return airfare, two night accommodation on twin sharing basis on bed and breakfast with return airport transfers.

All yours to choose from Bangalore (Rs.16,119), Chennai (Rs.13,019), New Delhi (Rs.24,799), Mumbai (Rs.27,279), Bangkok (Rs.26,039), Beijing (Rs.49,599), Hong Kong (Rs.47,119), Kuala Lumpur Special (Rs.24,179), Kuala Lumpur (Rs.29,139), Singapore Special (Rs.27,899), Singapore (Rs.31,619), Maldives (Rs.37,819) and Dubai (Rs.42,159).

Do bear in mind that ticketing has to be completed prior to February 4 with travel valid until March 31, 2010.

“You don’t have to be born in 1948 to enjoy this offer. You can go a step further and treat your parents, an old school teacher, an uncle, aunt or any special person celebrating his or her 62nd birthday this year,” said General Manager SriLankan Holidays Amith Sumanapala.

What better way to show your love and affection than with this special Independence cum birthday offer. For details call the SriLankan Holidays Office, your nearest travel agent or call us on +94 (0) 1 9733 3838.

Bon voyage and happy birthday with ‘Incredible 62 Independence Extravaganza’ from SriLankan Airlines.

Maersk to Stop Direct Chennai-US Service. Colombo, Sri Lanka to Gain on Trans-shipments

10th December 2009, www.slasscom.lk

The world’s biggest container shipping firm, Maersk Line, will stop a direct service from Chennai to the US east coast from 5 February and run it from Colombo instead, dealing a blow to the Union government-owned Chennai port’s ambition to become a hub. At least two Chennai-based shipbrokers familiar with the development confirmed Maersk’s plan, declining to be named as they are not authorized to speak to the media. Maersk is the container shipping unit of Danish shipping and oil conglomerate AP Moller-Maersk Group A/S.

This move will also increase costs and mean delays for shipments from India, eroding the competitiveness of exports, said S.R.L. Narasimhan, secretary of the Western India Shippers Association.

The Maersk service, introduced in 2007 to tap the boom in container shipments to and from the US, is being stopped as traffic between the countries has dropped as the effects of the global slump have made the service unviable, shipping executives in Chennai said.

Clients in south India will now have to ship cargo to the Sri Lankan port on smaller feeder vessels, a process known as trans-shipment, which will add three-four days to the process.

Other trans-shipment destinations from India are Singapore, Port Klang in Malaysia, Dubai or Salalah in Oman.

India spends at least Rs1,000 crore a year on trans-shipment alone, as big ships are not able to call at the country’s ports due to depth restrictions, according to the Union shipping ministry.

From Jawaharlal Nehru Port, India’s busiest container port located in Mumbai, there are three separate weekly direct services to the US. One is run by Maersk, the second by a consortium comprising Hapag-Lloyd AG, CMA CGM SA, APL Ltd and NYK Line and, the third by a consortium of UASC Ltd, Hanjin Shipping Co. Ltd, K Line and Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp.

According to the terms of a contract signed with the Union government-owned Chennai port in 2001 for operating the terminal, DP World has to ensure that big main line vessels call at the port to haul cargo directly to destinations. This clause stipulated that at least 30% of the total container cargo handled at the terminal had to be moved in this way as part of efforts to make Chennai a container cargo hub on the east coast.
Maersk Line confirmed it was making changes to the existing MECL2 service between Chennai and North America from 5 February.

“We will offer multiple feeder sailings from Chennai to Colombo for onward connection to the MECL2, thereby providing more frequent sailing options to our customers,” said Rajiv Arvind, an executive looking after corporate communications at Maersk Line India.