srilankan holidays launches “island breaks” offer for the middle east

The first in the series of special promotional offers planned for the Middle East region is the ‘Island Breaks’ offer, a three month campaign up to 30th April 2008, to visit tropical Sri Lanka.

The ‘Island Breaks’ offer from SriLankan Holidays includes airfare, star class hotel accommodation with an international buffet breakfast, for two nights and three days.

General Manager - SriLankan Holidays and MICE, Amith Sumanapala said, “We have an exciting line-up of sights and experiences to create the perfect holiday for the single traveller, a couple on a romantic getaway or an entire family.”

“Your holiday begins from the time you get onboard SriLankan Airlines and it will be a world of memories the rest of the way.”

SriLankan is also actively promoting Sri Lanka as a venue for Middle East based business to host their annual meetings and events.

“Sri Lanka is a hot spot of the meetings industry and we are already attracting a lot of interest from businesses in India, the Far East and the Middle East.”

“Most recently representatives of Dubai’s Airport Operating Committee (AOC), the individuals responsible for the smooth operation of Dubai International Airport flew here for their annual fellowship and we are happy to say they thoroughly enjoyed their island break.”

SriLankan Holidays is the leisure marketing arm of SriLankan Airlines, which operates daily flights Dubai and Abu Dhabi to its Colombo hub. Passengers transiting through Colombo can conveniently connect with SriLankan Airlines’ flights to eleven key cities in India, the Maldives, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Japan and Hong Kong

Daya Aviation to expand domestic operations

The Daya Air Lines the newest entrant to Daya Group of Companies under Daya Aviation (Pvt) Ltd, will purchase new air craft to strengthen their domestic operations. Group Director of Daya Group of Companies, D.T. Kingsley Bernard told Daily News Business this will be a passenger aircraft and the company has made arrangements to purchase the aircraft this year.
Since there are restrictions on traveling to Jaffna overland there is a huge demand created for air travel.
Talking about the local aviation industry Bernard said though there are number of players in the industry it is less competitive. "There is a shortage of experienced pilots and aircraft engineers in the industry.
It is important to have experienced aircraft engineers to maintain high standards in flight safety.
Not in Sri Lanka even in India industry need over 5000 pilots", he said. "Local aviation industry needs to focus on establishing pilot training schools and technical colleges for aircraft engineers. Industry has the potential of training pilots and aircraft engineers to fulfill the regional requirements.
Local aviation industry could earn a large amount of foreign exchange through this sector", he said.
Bernard said the company also expects to expand its operation to regional level. "This year we will be focusing on strengthening our domestic operations and company will have more new investments in this year", he added.
Talking about the future plans of Daya Group of Companies Bernard said they will venture into bio fertiliser business and leisure industry this year.