SriLankan Airlines
SriLankan Airlines is the flag carrier of Sri Lanka and a member airline of the Oneworld airline alliance. It was launched in 1979 as Air Lanka following the termination of operations of the original Sri Lankan flag carrier Air Ceylon. As of today, it is Sri Lanka's largest airline by number of aircraft and destinations. Its hub is Bandaranaike International Airport.
Following its partial acquisition in 1998 by Emirates, it was re-branded and the current livery was introduced. In 2008, the government of Sri Lanka acquired all the shares of the airline from Emirates. After ending the Emirates partnership, it retained its re-branded name and logo. SriLankan Airlines operates over 560 flights per week across Asia.
SriLankan Airlines joined the Oneworld airline alliance on 1 May 2014.
History
Air Lanka
In 1979, after the removal of airline manager Nimesh Fernando, Sri Lanka's president Jayawardene initially did not interfere after entrusting the airline to Captain Rakitha Wickramanayake and the board of directors consisting of industry officials and managers. The former Prime Minister of Singapore asked, "How could an airline pilot run an airline?" A 1986 Presidential Commission reported on the mismanagement of the board of the airline under President Wijetunga's appointment of a retired General as Chairman/MD with Air Vice Marshals and a UNP attorney as executive directors. None of them knew how to run an airline.Air Lanka was established as the flag carrier of Sri Lanka once the government shut down the bankrupt Air Ceylon. Air Lanka's initial fleet consisted of two Boeing 707, leased from Singapore Airlines. One Boeing 737 was leased from Maersk Air and maintained by Air Tara. On 24 April 1980, the lease ended; Air Lanka received a replacement Boeing 737 leased from Royal Brunei. On 1 November 1980, Air Lanka commenced wide-body operations which were leased Lockheed L1011-1 Tristar aircraft from Air Canada.
On 15 April 1982, Air Lanka purchased an L1011 Tristar from All Nippon Airways. Another L1011 was leased from Air Canada whilst a third was purchased from All Nippon. With the introduction of Tristar aircraft, the Boeing 707 were phased out. On 1 May 1982, HAECO took over the maintenance of the two Air Lanka-owned Tristars, while Air Canada maintained two leased Tristars.
On 28 March 1980, Air Lanka signed a purchase agreement for two brand new Lockheed L1011-500 Tristars, the most advanced wide-body aircraft in the world at that time. The first Lockheed L1011-500 was accepted on 26 August 1982, at Palmdale, California. It was flown to Amsterdam as UL flight 566P. On 28 August, 4R-ULA "City of Colombo" left for its inaugural flight from Amsterdam to Colombo as UL566. It reached Colombo on 29 August. This was followed by the second Lockheed L1011-500, 4R-ULB, "City of Jayawardanapura". On 8 June 1984, the airline received its first Boeing 747-200B "King Vijaya" and the second joined later. The aircraft were used on flights to Europe and a few flights to southeast Asia. However, they were retired in 1987. In 1994, Air Lanka became the Asian Launch Customer of the Airbus A340-300.
Rebranding
Air Lanka, which was state-owned, was partially privatised in 1998, with investment by Dubai-based Emirates Group, when Emirates and the Sri Lankan government signed an agreement for a ten-year strategic partnership. This agreement included exclusive rights for all aircraft ground handling and airline catering at Colombo-Bandaranaike airport for ten years. Emirates bought a 40% stake worth US$70 million in Air Lanka and sought to refurbish the airline's image and fleet. The government retained a majority stake in the airline but gave full control to Emirates for investment and management decisions. In 1998, Air Lanka re-branded to SriLankan Airlines.SriLankan acquired 6 Airbus A330-200s to complement its fleet of Airbus A340-300 and A320-200 aircraft. The A330-200 aircraft joined the airline between October 1999 and July 2000. The company's fourth A340-300 arrived at Colombo painted in the airline's new corporate livery. SriLankan upgraded its existing A340 fleet into a two-class configuration whilst overhauling the interior to reflect the new corporate image.
The airline gradually increased its number of destinations with more additions for regional markets, notably India and the Middle East. Whilst continuing expansion in the region, SriLankan commenced flying to Jeddah, its third destination in Saudi Arabia, after Riyadh and Dammam, thus increasing the number of destinations in the Middle East to nine. Jeddah became the airline's 51st destination overall.
In 2008, Emirates notified the Sri Lankan Government that it would not renew its management contract, which then expired on 31 March 2008. It claimed that the Sri Lankan Government was seeking greater control over the day-to-day management of the airline. Emirates sold its 43.63% stake in the airline back to the Government of Sri Lanka in a deal that was finalised in 2010, thus ending their partnership.
Modern era
In 2008, when Emirates pulled out, the accumulated profit of SriLankan was Rs. 9.288 billion in that financial year. From 2008 to 2015, when the government ran it, the loss for the seven years was Rs. 128.238 billion.Following the ownership transfer, SriLankan began promoting Colombo as a hub for flights to Asia. The first destination of the expansion plan was Shanghai; the route was initiated on 1 July 2010. The airline commenced flights to Guangzhou on 28 January 2011.
File:Tokyo_Narita_International_Airport_DSC09749_.jpg|thumb|SriLankan Airlines Airbus A330-243 in the Oneworld livery
SriLankan joined the Oneworld alliance on 1 May 2014. During 2014, it started to renew and increase its fleet, with purchases of Airbus A330 and A350 models. Currently, SriLankan operates an all-Airbus fleet except for its discontinued Air-Taxi services. SriLankan retired their last Airbus A340-300 on 7 January 2016 with its last scheduled flight from Chennai to Colombo.
The airline terminated three European routes – Frankfurt, Paris and Rome – by the end of 2016. On 2020, the Frankfurt and Paris routes were resumed.
The airline absorbed the operations of sister carrier Mihin Lanka in October 2016, in a bid to create a single stronger national airline for Sri Lanka. Accordingly, SriLankan took over two of Mihin Lanka's aircraft and absorbed its route network, adding ten new destinations to SriLankan's route network.
In October 2017, SriLankan launched direct daily non-stop flights to Melbourne, Australia, its first new long-haul route in over five years and the most ambitious expansion to date. The flights restore a regular direct air link between Australia and Sri Lanka after a hiatus of sixteen years. This route has proved particularly popular and has been responsible with increased numbers of Australian tourists holidaying in Sri Lanka.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, SriLankan performed cargo and operating relief flights. On 1 February 2020, it operated a relief flight out of Wuhan, China.
SriLankan lost 36.3 billion rupees up to August 2020 and the government approved a voluntary retirement package for 560 employees at a cost of 1.46 billion rupees.
From May 2022, due to the ongoing economic crisis in Sri Lanka which resulted in the country facing a fuel shortage, SriLankan's long-haul flights had to make stopovers at Chennai, Trivandrum, and Kochi in India to refuel.
For the financial year 2022–2023, SriLankan Airlines achieved a break-even for the first time in over a decade and posted a net profit of $3 million.
SriLankan Airlines won the 2024 IFSA Best Inflight Food or Beverage Innovation Award at the APEX and IFSA Global Expo October 2023.
Corporate affairs
Business trends
The key trends of SriLankan Airlines are as at the financial year ending 31 March:| Turnover | Net profit | Number of employees | Number of passengers | Passenger load factor | Number of aircraft | Sources | |
| 2019 | 180 | −44.0 | 6,794 | 5.6 | 82.9 | 27 | |
| 2020 | 180 | −47.1 | 6,693 | 5.2 | 80.6 | 25 | |
| 2021 | 50.6 | −45.2 | 5,965 | 0.16 | 19.6 | 24 | |
| 2022 | 132 | −166 | 5,833 | 1.4 | 48.9 | 24 | |
| 2023 | 365 | −73.6 | 5,440 | 3.4 | 77.6 | 23 | |
| 2024 | 333 | 3.8 | 5,935 | 3.6 | 79.0 | 21 |
Headquarters
The company's head office is at Airline Centre, Bandaranaike International Airport, Katunayake.Subsidiaries
SriLankan Catering is a wholly owned subsidiary of SriLankan Airlines, providing flight catering services to all airlines serving the Bandaranaike International Airport.Its other businesses include provision of aircraft maintenance and overhaul services, ground handling services, packaged holiday products, aviation training and IT services.
Destinations
, SriLankan Airlines flies to 35 destinations and 21 countries. Including codeshares with other airlines, it provides services to a total of 114 destinations in 62 countries. Its interline partnerships and membership in Oneworld alliance allow it to offer passengers connectivity to over 1,000 cities in 160 countries.SriLankan currently operates to 14 destinations in India, more than any other foreign airline. It is also the largest foreign airline in the Maldives, serving two cities.
| Country | City | Airport | Notes | Ref |
| Australia | Melbourne | Melbourne Airport | ||
| Australia | Sydney | Sydney Airport | ||
| Bangladesh | Dhaka | Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport | ||
| China | Beijing | Beijing Capital International Airport | ||
| China | Guangzhou | Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport | ||
| France | Paris | Charles de Gaulle Airport | ||
| Germany | Frankfurt | Frankfurt Airport | ||
| India | Bengaluru | Kempegowda International Airport | ||
| India | Chennai | Chennai International Airport | ||
| India | Delhi | Indira Gandhi International Airport | ||
| India | Hyderabad | Rajiv Gandhi International Airport | ||
| India | Kochi | Cochin International Airport | ||
| India | Madurai | Madurai Airport | ||
| India | Mumbai | Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport | ||
| India | Thiruvananthapuram | Thiruvananthapuram International Airport | ||
| India | Tiruchirappalli | Tiruchirappalli International Airport | ||
| Indonesia | Jakarta | Soekarno–Hatta International Airport | ||
| Japan | Tokyo | Narita International Airport | ||
| Kuwait | Kuwait City | Kuwait International Airport | ||
| Malaysia | Kuala Lumpur | Kuala Lumpur International Airport | ||
| Maldives | Gan | Gan International Airport | ||
| Maldives | Malé | Velana International Airport | ||
| Nepal | Kathmandu | Tribhuvan International Airport | ||
| Pakistan | Karachi | Jinnah International Airport | ||
| Pakistan | Lahore | Allama Iqbal International Airport | ||
| Qatar | Doha | Hamad International Airport | ||
| Saudi Arabia | Dammam | King Fahd International Airport | ||
| Saudi Arabia | Riyadh | King Khalid International Airport | ||
| Singapore | Singapore | Changi Airport | ||
| South Korea | Seoul | Incheon International Airport | ||
| Sri Lanka | Colombo | Bandaranaike International Airport | ||
| Sri Lanka | Hambantota | Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport | ||
| Thailand | Bangkok | Suvarnabhumi Airport | ||
| United Arab Emirates | Abu Dhabi | Zayed International Airport | ||
| United Arab Emirates | Dubai | Dubai International Airport | ||
| United Kingdom | London | Heathrow Airport |