SriLankan Airlines to expand presence in Pakistan

KARACHI: SriLankan Airlines announced on Friday to expand its operations in Pakistan, with an addition of two new flight routes between Lahore and Colombo and Islamabad and Colombo in the next two-three months.

“The airline would soon fly on the routes of Lahore-Colombo and Islamabad-Colombo,” said G.T Jeyaseelan,

Chief Marketing Officer of SriLankan Airlines at a press conference.

An airline official said that the airline was already operating seven flights a day between Karachi and Colombo. “The number of flights was raised to seven from five almost two-three months back.”

He further added that the airline has planned to operate two flights a day on the Lahore-Colombo route and one flight on the Islamabad-Colombo route.

SriLankan Airlines’ global route network spans over 60 destinations in 33 countries.

With a significant growth in its business in Pakistan, the airline also announced the appointment of TCB Aviation as its General Sales Agent (GSA) in the country and inaugurated a new office in Karachi. “Growing market opportunities in Pakistan resulted in the Sri Lankan Airlines exceeding its own passenger targets by an impressive 13 percent in 2011-12, and cargo targets by an astounding 81 percent,” statement added.

TCB Aviation is a 100 percent subsidiary of the Omni Group of Companies. Lal Perera, Head of Worldwide Sales of the airline, said that the airline considered Pakistan as an extremely important market.

 “We started our operation to Karachi way back in 1980 and look forward to a new era in our operations in Pakistan with the appointment of TCB Aviation as our GSA.”