SriLankan Airlines acquires seven aircraft

SriLankan Airlines is acquiring seven more aircraft in an ambitious growth plan that will increase flights to existing destinations, open new routes and launch air taxi services within Sri Lanka.

Two additional Airbus A340s which are wide-bodied, long-haul aircraft joined the fleet in October 2003. The airline is also soon to acquire two additional Airbus A320s. Two Cessna Caravan aircraft will join the fleet in November, as the airline prepares to launch amphibious domestic services. SriLankan Cargo, the cargo arm of the airline, also acquired its second Antonov AN12 dedicated freighter aircraft in October.

With the above expansion, SriLankan’s fleet will comprise 18 aircraft - five A340s, four A330s, five A320s, two Antonov AN12s, and two Cessna Caravans. 

The arrival of the A340s signals the launch of a new operating strategy to increase flights to existing destinations to daily flights or more. The A340s will operate mainly on routes to Europe and the Far East, and their arrival coincides with the increase of flights starting with the Winter 2003 schedule, which sees 11 weekly flights to London, five to Zurich, four to Paris, three to Frankfurt, and daily flights to Kuala Lumpur.

“The arrival of these aircraft signifies this airline’s confidence in the future, and our faith that our new operating strategy will bring us every success,” said SriLankan’s CEO Peter Hill. “We have identified sectors that we already operate to which have the best potential for growth and are increasing our services accordingly. We know that our product is among the best in the world and we offer travellers value for money.”

The two A320s will enable expansion of services and opening of new routes in the South Asian region, all of which at present in the planning stage. This enhancement is consequent to the recent liberalization of the bilateral air services agreement between India and Sri Lanka.

The AN12 freighter will allow the airline to increase its cargo distribution services throughout the South Asian and South East Asian regions.

SriLankan Cargo is to launch services to Bangkok shortly, and already serves Karachi, the Maldives, Trivandrum, Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai. The AN12 has a capacity of 17 tonnes.

With the two Cessna Caravan floatplanes, the airline will launch domestic operations, operating air taxi services from Katunayake, initially to Koggala, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya and Dambulla, utilizing inland waterways as landing strips. It is the first commercial use of amphibious aircraft in Sri Lanka.

SriLankan has been steadily expanding its services over the past 18 months, following the acquisition of an Airbus A320 in May 2003, and the launch of services to Kochi, Bangalore, Bodh Gaya, Frankfurt and Karachi, as well as increased frequencies to London, Paris, Zurich, New Delhi, Male, Dubai, and Kuwait.