SRILANKAN AIRLINES ENDS FINANCIAL YEAR ON A POSITIVE NOTE

SriLankan Airlines has emerged positively from the worst year in airline history with a modest profit of Rs. 1.4 billion, for the financial year ending March 2002. The Group, which includes SriLankan Catering, made an accumulative profit of Rs. 2 billion.

The airline which sustained a double blow from the Colombo airport attack on July 24th 2001 closely followed by the airline crisis of September 11, has done extremely well to recover with a series of immediate measures to cut costs, prune cadre, improve yields and increase traffic. 

Although the airline lost a quarter of its fleet and had to cut routes and frequencies as a direct result of the airport attack, it has managed to contain costs and make a modest profit comparing well with the previous financial year where the company made a loss. 

The airline's total operating revenue dropped by Rs. 1 billion or 3.6% to Rs. 29.35 billion from the previous financial year. Group revenue too dropped 4.1% to 29.75 billion from that of last year. Passenger revenue,  excluding charters totalling Rs. 23 billion however, showed only a marginal decrease of 0.22% over the previous year.

SriLankan Airline's unit yield increased by 27.8% to Rs. 38.6 per load tonne kilometre. Breakeven load factor decreased from 85.2% to 74.3%. The airline was also able to reduce cost of sales by 13% over the previous year.

The airline suffered a decline in capacity of 21% over the previous year. Total traffic carriage fell 23.7%. The number of passengers carried during the year was 1.62 million down from 1.89 million the previous year.  

Cargo carriage also fell from a total of 58,618 tonnes last year to 46,067 tonnes for this 2001/2002. Passenger seat factor increased by 0.13 percent to 68.51% while overall load factor (i.e. passenger and cargo) averaged 61.96%, which was 2.15% below the previous year.

'If the tragic events of 2001 taught us anything, it taught us to "do more with less!" says the airline's Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Peter Hill in his review in the annual report.  

'The past 12 months were spent in survival mode. I believe the next 12 months will focus on recovery. 

The challenge ahead will be to remain strong, maintain the momentum we have  shown over the past year push forward where we can and keep building all the time - building the company's net worth; our knowledge and technological resources; revenues; yields; and a great team into an even better one," he adds.  

The airline continues to contribute towards the country's economy generating Rs. 21.9 billion in foreign exchange earnings. According to the Central Bank's annual report the figure exceeds total receipts from  tourism of Rs. 19 billion and total foreign direct investment (FDIs) of Rs. 7.9 billion. The airline accounts for approximately 4% of Sri Lanka's GDP.