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Friday, 1 August 2014 00:29 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
SriLankan Airlines Chairman Nishantha Wickremasinghe has been appointed the Chairman of APOT. Asia (Asia Pacific On-board Travel) from August this year. He will be taking over from Heather Cho, Senior Vice President of Korean Air Lines Co. Ltd.
Aimed at collectively inventing and improving new strategies to attract more tourists to the region, APOT. Asia is a global body with a member-base ranging from airline in-flight products and service suppliers, airline caterers, catering product suppliers, airline managements, hospitality partners and media organisations.
“I am honoured to be appointed the Chairman of APOT Asia, which is an organisation that works extensively towards promoting tourism in the region. This is not a personal achievement or that of the Airline alone. This is a collective effort of the entire country that has been once again recognised at a global forum. As the national carrier, SriLankan Airlines has been working tirelessly towards making Sri Lanka an aviation hub in Asia as set down in the development goals of the ‘Mahinda Chinthana’ Idiri Dekma program, introduced by the visionary leadership of President ManhindaRajapaksa,” said the Chairman-elect Wickremasinghe.
APOT. Asia has been raising awareness on the region’s tourism potential through educating stakeholders on tourist attractions, business and investment opportunities. It shares, educates and discusses ground-breaking ideas and new tourism trends that can be utilised to increase the number of tourist arrivals.
At the 2014 June Forum in Danang, Vietnam, Wickremasinghe was among the invited speakers. This year, with SriLankan Airlines Chairman at the helm, APOT-Asia is planning to hold its next annual forum in Sri Lanka in 2015 with over 250 delegates in attendance. Commenting on the event, Wickremasinghe added, “I am confident that the mileage gained out of this could be diverted to further promote the country as an ideal tourist destination that has something in store for any type of traveller and SriLankan Airlines, as the perfect way to get there.”
Wickremasinghe was appointed Chairman of the SriLankan Airlines’ Group which includes SriLankan Catering, in June 2009 on a mandate to take the airline forward and expand its operations in conjunction with an ambitious tourism development plan, envisaged by the present Government of Sri Lanka.
SriLankan Airlines, the national airline of Sri Lanka, is an award winning carrier with a firm reputation as a global leader in service, comfort, safety, reliability, and punctuality. Launched in 1979, SriLankan is currently expanding and further diversifying its wide range of products and services in order to drive the country’s on-going boom in tourism and economic development. The airline’s hubs are located at Bandaranaike International Airport in Colombo and Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport, Hambantota providing convenient connections to its global route network of 89 destinations in 44 countries in Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Far East, North America, Australia and Africa.
SriLankan Airlines joined oneworld airline alliance on 1 May, this year as the first carrier from the Indian Sub-continent. SriLankan now flies alongside some of the biggest and premier brands in the airline business – airberlin, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LAN, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Royal Jordanian and S7 airlines. Together with its oneworld membership, the flagship carrier of Sri Lanka offers its customers convenient connections to a thousand destinations in over 150 countries, opportunities to earn and redeem frequent flyer miles any oneworld carrier and access to over 500 lounges for top tier frequent flyers.
In the airline world, the Asia Pacific carriers maintain very high standards in in-flight services, a fact which has brought together the industry leaders to further strengthen the relationship among the region’s business partners and associates. Through frequent interactions, the organisation facilitates the promotion of the products, services and the destinations of its associates. The speciality of APOT. Asia’s forums is that they are held in leisure destinations in a relaxed atmosphere where the products and service providers can showcase their products to a larger audience, consisting, travel agents, sales teams and delegates of the aviation and hospitality industries.
