Wednesday Sep 25, 2024
Wednesday Sep 25, 2024
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Amidst a gala celebration at the Mattala International Airport which was picked as the venue for the ceremony in an attempt to showcase the economic opportunities that lie 240km south of Colombo; the country was officially welcomed into the fold of the alliance with a deed signing, official welcome from the 14 other airlines that are members of oneworld, handing over of the logo and unveiling of the logo on a SriLankan Airlines flight.
Having received the invitation in 2012 by member airline Cathay Pacific, the national carrier has worked towards fine-tuning its systems required to become a member while carrying out a five year development plan with a clear focus of securing a loss-neutral position in the coming years.
SriLankan Airlines Chief Executive Officer Kapila Chandrasena addressing the gathering of dignitaries from member airlines and oneworld, as well as a large delegation of foreign and local media noted that the airline has in the past three years seen the gradual decrease of its negative margins in profit.
“The last few years have been challenging for all airlines, not only SriLankan. Our biggest cost is related to fuel and what we have seen is a significant increase. That is the main reason for lower margins,” he explained.
Controlling costs
In an attempt to manage costs, the airline has decided on a $ 500 million capital infusion to modernise its fleet and complete it with more fuel-efficient aircraft.
Later this year in October, the carrier will welcome the first airbus A330-300 to its portfolio, through which they anticipate a 5-7% nett operational saving.
From 2016 onwards the airline will cruise the skies with the latest next generation airbus A350s which are hoped to give a significant cost contribution to its operating margins.
“On the other hand Sri Lanka is becoming a desirable leisure destination. We are seeing more and more tourists coming and this, we hope will contribute towards gradually increase our yield,” Chandrasena said. “This combination would support is in bridging the negative gap and moving towards a loss neutral position. That is the plan and we are certainly on track.”
Five-year plan
The five-year plan is on track so far, he observed, except in the airline’s projections of jet fuel prices. “But more or less we are tracking it as planned.” The process has been higher than predicted and its impact has shaken the balance of the plan conducted successfully so far.
“Looking into the future, we see that in the next 15 years the biggest growth in passenger travel will happen in the Asia Pacific region. We want to position our airline to exploit these opportunities,” he said commenting on the fleet expansion and modernisation which plays a pivotal role in the five-year plan.
Keeping control of the costs (and with the new aircraft they will have more control) and benchmarking their services to a global standard will help SriLankan achieve its growth targets.
SriLankan’s oneworld implementation program represented one of the most extensive projects in the airline’s history, with working groups covering some 20 streams of activity.
What the airline means for oneworld
The airline’s addition to oneworld will bring two new destinations on to the alliance network – Hambantota as well as India’s Tiruchirapalli – along with its Colombo base as a new oneworld hub.
With an extensive schedule serving southern India and as the leading international airline serving the Maldives, SriLankan also significantly strengthens oneworld’s presence throughout South Asia, one of the world’s fastest growing regions for air travel demand.
“Besides being Sri Lanka’s flag carrier, we are also the largest international airline serving our neighbouring Maldives. We have a leading presence too in South India with 67 frequencies a week,” SriLankan Airlines Chairman Nishantha Wickremasinghe said.
SriLankan today flies to 33 destinations in 20 countries. “By connecting that network to oneworld partners, from midnight 30 April we will reach 1,000 destinations in 150 countries,” oneworld Governing Board CEO Bruce Ashby said. This would also increase daily departures of the alliance to 14,250.
Benefits for frequent flyers and other customers
The 300,000 members of SriLankan’s FlySmiLes loyalty program will, in effect, have their frequent flyer privileges extended to whenever they fly on oneworld member airlines – including earning rewards and tier status points plus the ability to redeem rewards for flights throughout the alliance network.
The 180 million members of the established oneworld airlines’ frequent flyer programs will be able to earn rewards and tier status points and receive all other oneworld benefits when flying on SriLankan and redeem awards on the airline’s network.
Other oneworld member airlines include leading carriers from each region – Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian, airberlin, British Airways, Finnair, Iberia, S7 Airlines, American Airlines, LAN Airlines and TAM Airlines.
As part of oneworld, SriLankan will be able to offer all of its customers seamless connections across a global network, with first rate connections between the world’s leading business centres.
FlySmiLes Platinum cardholders will have top Emerald status in the oneworld program. FlySmiLes Gold members will be equivalent to oneworld Sapphire, entitling them to use Business Class or frequent flyer lounges offered by oneworld’s member airlines worldwide accompanied by a guest when they travel on any oneworld flight, no matter which class they are booked in for. FlySmiles Classic members will have oneworld Ruby status.
Special frequent flyer miles offer
To celebrate SriLankan’s addition to oneworld, all FlySmiLes cardholders will receive double their usual FlySmiLes miles when flying on most oneworld partners between 15 May and 30 June. Members of most established member airlines’ loyalty programs will receive double the normal mileage awards/points when flying on SriLankan during the same period.
Exploring the globe as a oneworld member
SriLankan is already participating in Global Explorer, the round-the-world fare offered by all oneworld members and various airlines that are not part of the alliance. From midnight on 30 April, its network will be covered by oneworld’s full range of alliance fares – the most widespread offered by any of the global alliances, including the market-leading oneworld Explorer round-the-world fare.
This range of alliance fares will be further extended with the addition of a new Visit South Asian Sub-Continent pass, marking SriLankan’s addition to oneworld, and offering great value flights in the region.
The new value air pass covering travel within the Indian subcontinent is offered between three and eight sectors across SriLankan’s network covering its Sri Lanka home, plus India, Pakistan and the Maldives.
Fares start at $ 80 a sector in Economy Class, and $ 350 in Business Class, excluding taxes and other charges. Like all other oneworld fares, flights feature all the alliance’s usual frequent flyer benefits and services, including earning mileage rewards/points.
The fare has to be bought in conjunction with an international ticket to and from the region on any oneworld member airline, and is available only to non-residents of the countries covered.
SriLankan seals code-share agreements with Finnair and S7
On the eve of its entry into oneworld, SriLankan also concluded code-share agreements with two more oneworld members – Finnair and Russia’s S7 Airlines.
It already has code-sharing in place with oneworld’s Malaysia Airlines and code-share discussions with other oneworld partners are at an advanced stage.
Code-sharing is a wide-spread airline industry practice where the marketing code of one airline is placed on a flight operated by another carrier. This has the effect of expanding the network offered by the marketing carrier without having to operate the flights itself, thereby enabling it to earn more revenue, while at the same time offering more choice to customers and making connections for them between the two airline partner networks even more seamless.
SriLankan and S7 agreed to code-share last year, pending regulatory approvals. From 15 May, S7’s designator will be added to flights operated by SriLankan between their Colombo and Moscow Domodedovo hubs, and also Colombo and Bangkok.
At the same time, SriLankan’s UL prefix will be placed on services operated by the Russian airline between its own Moscow Domodedovo base and Chelyabinsk, Irkutsk, Novosibirsk, St. Petersburg, Volgograd and Yekaterinburg, effectively adding six key cities in Russia to SriLankan’s network. These code-share flights opened for sale from 1 May.
From 2 June, Finnair will add its AY code to flights operated by SriLankan between the latter’s Colombo base and Bangkok, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London Heathrow, Paris CDG and Rome, while SriLankan’s UL designator will be placed on connecting services flown by Finnair between its Helsinki hub and Frankfurt, London Heathrow, Paris CDG and Rome and also between Helsinki and Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm.
Oneworld expansion
SriLankan’s induction into oneworld marks the completion of the alliance’s biggest expansion program since its launch 15 years ago. In just two years, the group has added more than 15 airlines as full or affiliate members, including:
TAM Airlines, the leading airline in Latin America’s leading economy Brazil, which joined on 31 March 2014 alongside its partner in LATAM Airlines Group and long-time oneworld member LAN Airlines, consolidating oneworld’s position as the continent’s top alliance.
US Airways, which also transitioned to oneworld on 31 March 2014, following its merger with American Airlines, which created the world’s largest airline on most scores and makes oneworld the leading alliance in the USA, the world’s biggest single air travel market.
Qatar Airways, which joined on 30 October 2013 as the first of the ‘big three’ Gulf carriers to join any global airline group, making oneworld the leading alliance in the Middle East, another of the world’s fastest growing regions for air travel demand.
Malaysia Airlines, one of South East Asia’s top carriers, which joined on 1 February 2013.
airberlin, the second biggest airline in Europe’s largest economy, Germany, and one of the continent’s biggest carriers, which boarded in March 2012.
Key affiliate members, such as LAN Colombia, US Airways Express, Iberia Express, Austria’s Niki and transatlantic carrier OpenSkies.
This has made oneworld the world’s fastest growing airline alliance. Recent statistics show that they together marry over 250 destinations to the alliance map expanding its network from more than 1,000 airports in 150 plus countries. “Daily flights have increased by 76%, there are some 215 million customers brought on board a year which is a 74% increase, and a 56% increase in capacity and its combined fleet by 50%,” Cathay Pacific Chief Operating Officer Rupert Hogg said. “Generating additional $ 40 million revenue, a 40% increase; adding five points to its share of revenues between the world’s Top 100 business cities, which is now at 26%,”Hogg concluded.
Pix by Daminda
Harsha Perera
