SriLankan Airlines opens ticketing office in Batticaloa
Thursday, 12 June 2014 00:54
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SriLankan Airlines expands its presence in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka by opening its latest passenger sales office in Batticaloa in a bid to capture a larger share of the local travel market. This is SriLankan’s eighth passenger sales office outside of the capital Colombo, with representation already in place in the East coast, in Trincomalee.
The branch office will facilitate travel procedures to a large clientele in the Batticaloa District and will mostly cater to the south-east region of the island. This includes handling of reservations, ticketing, Prepaid Ticket Advices (PTAs), requests for special services, , information on fares, ticketing, schedules and packages – essentially offering the same sales services carried out by any authorised SriLankan Airlines office.
SriLankan has appo-inted The Traveller Global Ltd., which is a leading IATA accredited travel Agency in Sri Lanka that offers all the services outlined above, such as airline ticketing, reservations, travel insurance, outbound holidays, inbound tour programs and hotel reservations worldwide as the Passenger Sales Agent for UL in Batticaloa.
The east coast, which has undergone a significant transformation post-civil war, is generating increased domestic and foreign travel, creating a need for more convenient travel options and services. Considering the growing customer base for air travel to and from the Eastern region, the passenger sales agent operation will increase the size of the airline’s local consumer base in the area. Batticaloa has huge potential for tourism and the opening of the PSA at this point in time is an opportune move for the airline. It is the first Passenger Sales Agency to open in the island following SriLankan’s entrance into oneworld, the world’s highest rated global airline alliance, on 1 May.
Those flying out from the East Coast will now benefit from oneworld, which connects them to almost 1,000 destinations in more than 150 countries.
SriLankan Airlines Chief Executive Officer, KapilaChandrasena said: “As the national carrier, SriLankan strives to make its products and services readily available throughout our island. The strategic positioning of our new ticketing office in Batticaloa is an important distribution channel that offers seamless services, reaching more potential customers and thereby increasing our overall business. This will undoubtedly be a profitable market for us.”
“The Eastern Province is one of our fastest growing regions, underpinned by the visible development underway and flourishing tourism prospects. It is important to expand our operations to this part of the country and opening the Batticaloa office will result in more convenience and efficacy for our customers in the east,” said SriLankan Airlines Chairman Nishantha Wickremasinghe.
SriLankan Airlines, Chief Marketing Officer, G.T. Jeyaseelan said: “We at SriLankan Airlines, consider it a pleasure to mark our presence in Batticaloa today. As the national carrier, we have been always looking for ways to provide hassle-free travel to our customers spread across the country. This is the result of our intra-national expansion where our prime aim is to provide a top quality service to any customer in Sri Lanka. Batticaloa is a prime business hub and a much-sought after tourist destination. I hope this office will serve as a convenient service point to all in the District and have something to suit any type of traveller.”
The Batticaloa PSA Office is located at No. 373, Trinco Road, Batticaloa; Tel: 065 2229888/065 2228122. It will be open from 8:15 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, and from 8:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. hours on Saturdays (except on mercantile and Poya holidays).
