SriLankan Airlines spreads the joy with incredible events this festive season

Carols sung by cabin crew on-board

SriLankan Airlines came up with several unique ways of celebrating the festive season with its customers, by spreading the message of joy and happiness and even helping create awareness of the urgent need for environmental conservation.

Many incredibly lucky passengers were chosen as winners in its on-board raffle draws on flights for six days from 20-25 December to receive free FlySmiLes tickets to many exciting destinations such as Colombo, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Bangkok, Melbourne, Tokyo, London, Dubai, Doha and Canton. A total of three million FlySmiLes Miles were on offer.

SriLankan also offered travellers a Christmas bonanza this festive season with surprise Business Class upgrades to those who had booked their flight through www.srilankan.com and flown on Christmas Day. Passengers were randomly chosen for free upgrades to Business Class at the time of check-in. This unique gift from Srilankan.com was a Christmas surprise to SriLankan Airlines’ passengers who flew with us on Christmas day.  

The campaign was part of a series of passenger engagement initiatives steered by the airlines’ marketing team which have received global accolades in the recent months. Sharing the spirit of cultural festivities with passengers at its home base, BIA has been well-received by both the Sri Lankan and foreign travellers, which have created in them a sense of belonging and interest in the unique facets of Sri Lankan way of life. The campaign ‘the spirit of Vesak at BIA’ successfully executed by the Marketing team last May, won the “Marketing Innovation 2020” title at the APEX Awards recently.

With the mission of conservation in mind, the décor in both of SriLankan’s exclusive lounges at Colombo’s Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) – the Serendib and Serenediva Lounges – were produced from scrap material from the airline’s daily operations, such as Christmas trees from scrap cargo pallets to tree decorations made from old uniforms, seat covers and packaging. A team from the airline’s Properties, Environmental Compliance, Corporate Social Responsibility and Product Development departments worked together on this interesting initiative.  

Meanwhile, the spirit of the season was spread at 35,000 feet with three SriLankan Airlines flights selected for a ‘Gift Giving Christmas’ between two sets of passengers on each flight. The initial wishes were exchanged between staff from corporate offices and passengers. Thereafter passengers on selected flights wished passenger across other selected flights. The gifts were sponsored by SriLankan Airlines’ suppliers and included Sri Lanka’s premium products and brands such as Dilmah, Ceylon Biscuits Ltd., Jaf Tea, Stone and String, International Distillers Ltd., Flemingo Duty Free and traditional hand crafted wooden items.

Passengers travelling on long haul flights were serenaded to yuletide cheer by our cabin crew who performed a number of famous Christmas carols on board with many passengers joining in. A bonanza of free Wi-Fi on board on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day provided passengers the opportunity to share the joy of the season with their friends and loved ones throughout your journey. Meanwhile our younger passengers were delighted to have the opportunity to decorate ginger bread men on board.

Passengers who travelled on 25 December were given the opportunity to pose for photographs with a fellow passenger dressed as Santa or a member of the cabin crew dressed as Santa. The cabin galleys were decorated with Christmas décor where passengers were able to pose with special props for photographs. 

In another delightful initiative, a remote controlled rover disguised as a gift is following kids at the terminal of BIA and delivering presents by courtesy of SriLankan Airlines. Meanwhile, all children travelling during Christmas and missing the festive cheer at home would have the opportunity to decorate a pre baked ginger bread man. 

SriLankan has a network serving 130 cities in 58 countries. A member of the prestigious oneworld global airline partnership, SriLankan also connects travellers to over 1,000 cities in 160 countries through its oneworld partner airlines. 

The airline has been consistently winning prestigious accolades, including ‘Leading International Airline of 2019’ at the MATATO Travel Awards; ‘Leading International Airline’ in South Asia and ‘Leading Airline Passenger Class – Business’ award, both for the second consecutive year at the South Asian Travel Awards 2019 (SATA); ‘Best Marketing Innovation’ award from APEX; two awards at the World Travel Awards 2018 Asia and Australasia; ‘Best Full Service Airline in Central & South Asia’ at the Future Travel Experience Asia Awards; and ‘Innovation in Commercial Airline Cabins’ at the In-flight Asia Pacific Awards.