Airline traffic picking up in lanka

by Shirajiv Sirimane

Sri Lanka has a growing airline passenger market and this would increase further with the ongoing peace initiative ,said Qatar Airways Area Manager, R. Bharathan.

'Peace will open up more international business avenues resulting in more international travelling,'

In an interview with the Daily News he said their load factor in Sri Lanka was very good and some months they almost did 90 percent. He said their inbound loads were very good. However some months the traffic was low due to adverse and exaggerating media reports on Sri Lanka.

He said the airline is treating Sri Lanka as an important destination and they are in the process of strengthening their provincial network.

"We already have offices in Kurunegala and Wennappuwa and opening of five more offices out of Colombo are in the pipeline. This helps expand our presence and passengers coming to Colombo, which is an inconvenience to them," he said.

The airline is studying the possibility of flying out of Colombo to other international destinations where there are Open Sky policies.

In addition to business and leisure travellers, one of their main markets are the local expatriates specially to the Middle East and Italy. "The main reason for the airline to be popular is their quick connection out of Doha Qatar," he said.

Qatar Airways has added Berlin, which is their third destination to Germany and the new four-times-a-week service to Berlin strengthens Qatar Airways' presence in the German market, which already includes Frankfurt and Munich. Launched in January 1994, the airline has 14 weekly frequencies to Colombo and flies to over 50 destinations from Doha.

"We offer special packages to Sri Lankans who will participate in the ITB exhibition in Berlin next March," he said.

Employing a multi national staff, the airline was also one of the first airlines to assist Sri Lanka soon after the tsunami. They have rebuilt 25 houses.

As a part of their CSR youths are being trained in Airline ticketing at the World Trade Center office. "After their training, they are free to join any airline," he said.

Qatar Airways is one of four airlines to be ranked Five Star by Skytrax, the independent aviation industry-monitoring agency.

The airline operates a modern fleet of 42 all-Airbus aircraft, which will almost triple in size to 110 jets by 2015.

It recently announced plans to acquire up to 80 aircraft, comprising 60 of the new generation A350s and 20 Boeing 777s worth a total US$15.2 billion.