SriLankan Airlines acquires fifth Airbus A320

SriLankan Airlines has acquired its fifth Airbus A320 aircraft, bringing its fleet to 17. The rapid expansion of fleet is to provide capacity for the increasing number of destinations serviced by the airline. SriLankan presently flies to 42 destinations in 23 countries throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

The airline plans to add another five aircraft by year-end: one A340, two A320s and two Turbo Otter air taxis. The airline currently operates five four-engined long range A340s, four twin-engined medium range A330s, five A320s, one Cessna Caravan amphibious aircraft, and two Antonov AN12 freighter aircraft.

Peter Hill, CEO of SriLankan Airlines, said: “This aircraft allows us greater flexibility in servicing our present 10 Indian destinations, and the opportunity to serve even more cities, that should come on stream over the coming months.”

SriLankan said it expects to acquire one or two more long range aircraft later this year, in preparation for its entry into the China market in November, with the launch of thrice-weekly flights between Colombo and Beijing via Bangkok.

SriLankan recently increased its frequencies to London (12 per week), Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Muscat and Bahrain in accordance with its corporate strategy of attaining daily frequency to as many of its existing destinations as possible. The airline is also rationalising flight timings around the world to provide common timings for each destination, for increased efficiency.

The airline launched services to Calicut in southern India on July 1, and has announced plans to begin flights to Ahmadabad later this year. It presently flies to New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Trichy, Trivandrum, Bodh Gaya, Kochi and Hyderabad – a total of 66 flights per week with daily flights to many of the 10 cities.