SriLankan Airlines expands

SriLankan Airlines is fast turning Colombo Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) into into a hub for air travel, steadily increasing the number of passengers in transit through the airport.

Three years ago, only 28% of passengers carried by SriLankan through Colombo’s BIA were in transit - a little over a quarter. The bulk of travellers were tourists visiting Sri Lanka and Sri Lankans returning from overseas.

Today, the number of transit passengers has more than doubled, and the total number of passengers carried by the airline has increased by a third. Nearly half of its traffic (46%) is now transit passengers, a number that is continuously increasing.

Peter Hill, CEO of SriLankan, said: “We at SriLankan take great pride in offering rapid connectivity to travellers through Colombo, in order to maximise convenience. We actively work towards minimising waiting periods which we know is one of the most annoying aspects of international air travel.”

The rise in transit passengers has been as steady as it has been impressive, from 28% in 2003/04 to 36% the next year, 42% in 2005/06, to the current 46%.

Transit numbers remained steady at 46% during the six-month period between April and September 2007, despite flight schedules being disrupted for several months due to a temporary night-time closure of BIA. With the airport now back to its 24-hour operation, the number is expected to increase.

Manoj Gunawardena, Head of Worldwide Passenger Sales, said: “We offer passengers a one-stop option for travel between regions as far apart as Europe and the Far East. Our flight arrival and departure banks are constantly being improved to reduce long transit times. However BIA is perhaps the best airport in the region to spend time if a passenger has to.”

With SriLankan Airlines having positioned Colombo as the Gateway to India, a large proportion of transit passengers are flying to and from the 11 cities that the airline serves there. SriLankan last year became the first foreign carrier to operate 100 weekly flights to India. The airline’s route network now serves 54 cities in 28 countries.

But an increasing number of travellers are using Colombo from other regions. These include Middle Eastern travellers on vacation en route to the Far East; Europeans travelling to the Maldives and Thailand; and Japanese heading for the Maldives.

Export promotion display and sales centre of edb at Bandaranaike International Airport – Katunayake

The Sri Lanka Export Development Board has taken steps to establish Export Promotion Display and Sales Centre of EDB at the Bandaranaike International Airport, Katunayake.

The opening ceremony of this Export Promotion Display and Sales Centre of EDB at the Bandaranaike International Airport will take place on 7th February 2008 at the Katunayake Airport under the patronage of Hon. Prof. G.L. Pieris, the Minister of Export Development and International Trade and Hon. Chamal Rajapakse , Minister of Ports & Aviation and Irrigation & Water Management.

The establishment of Export Promotion and Display Centre is a significant effort initiated by the Sri Lanka Export Development Board under the purview of the Ministry of Export Development & International Trade to promote and develop products of SME’s displaying their products.

The development of export sector specially SMEs is a key area highlighted under the Mahinda Chinthanaya . The national policy based on Mahinda Chinthanaya , emphasizes the importance of the role played by the business community to help build the national economy and also provide various assistance to maintain their success.

Consequent to a request by the National Council for the Economic Development (NECD), the Government proposed to establish a permanent Display Centre at the Bandaranaike International Airport by the budget speech of 2005. In para 48 of the Budget Speech of 2005 , it was declared that the showroom space would be allocated at the arrival and departure lounges of the BIA and the exemption VAT applicable to imported goods purchased from the duty free shops for payment in foreign currency would be extended to locally supplied goods as means of popularizing Sri Lankan products.

As the apex state organization for export development, Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB) was entrusted with the task of operating and managing the Centre at the airport.

The Sri Lanka Export Development Board being the responsible organization to implement this programme has made all efforts to be a reality involved in various activities during the last three years. SLEDB had various discussions and negotiations with various authorities to make this event a success.

The objective of the establishment of a permanent display centre at this Bandaranaike International Airport is to popularize Sri Lankan export products around the globe.

It is an acceptable factor that one of the best attractive places to display products for the purpose of promoting would be the airports and sea ports where the foreign tourists arrives and depart. Today, we have only one place where we can see the arrival and departure of foreigners ie., only Bandaranaike International Airport. Therefore, the opening of display centres of this nature at the airport is a new effort for promotion and development of exports. The target group of the Sri Lanka Display Centre is tourists and locals arriving and departing through Katunayake Airport. This will be a Sri Lankan product showcase for exportable products and will provide opportunities for the participating export companies to introduce and sell quality products.