SriLankan Airlines Status Update

SriLankan Airlines has been in the news in the past couple of days. This is brief update regarding SriLankan’s curren state.

New Look

SriLankan unveiled its redefined entertainment and onboard dining concepts and a new uniform for its staff.
Seen below is the new flight attendant uniform.

Photo copyright original photographer

Finances

SriLankan’s financial year ends on 31st March. Manoj Gunawardena, the CEO, stated that the airline” struggled to stay airborne for the past two years “, however that the things are now looking better.
SriLankan is expected to post a reduced loss for this fiscal year. Losses in the first two quarters of the year were less than USD50mn and the airline has broken even in December 2009. It reported a loss of USD88mn for the last fiscal year.
Average load factor is reported to be around 70%. The airline is looking at leasing out two Airbus A320s and one widebody.
The CEO further stated that their original plans were to operate daily into European destinations and twice daily into London, offering frequent non-stop flights to SriLanka.
The airline last year planned to increase its London flights to twice daily by December 2010. It currently flies to London Heathrow, 12-times weekly.

BUYOUT

The Sri Lankan government is looking at purchasing Emirates Airline’s stake in SriLankan.
Both SriLankan Airlines Chairman, Nishantha Wickramasinghe, and Emirates Airline President, Tim Clark, have confirmed that talks are underway.
A price or amount of the buying stake has not been mentioned.
Emirates currently owns 43.6% of SriLankan while the government owns 51%. The management was transferred to the government, from Emirates, in April 2008 when the initial management agreement expired.