SriLankan Airlines launched the induction of new aircraft to its fleet, with the latest Airbus aircraft A320 Nneo becoming one of the first in the region to operate such an aircraft.
“The Airline was one of the first to acquire the A 320 airbus, out of a worldwide order of 5,000 airbuses.
The aircraft has been acquired on a monthly operating lease and five more A 320 - A 321 aircraft are expected in the next 15 to 18 months,” Chief Technical Officer Dinnaga Padmaperuma said.
The leased A320 arrived in Katunayake last Sunday from Hamburg, Germany and is expected to be ready for commercial operations by early March. With this leased A 320 neo aircraft SriLankan will have a total fleet of 25 aircraft of which two will be returned to the owners which will result in 23 flying aircraft. The Neo series has been designed to provide significantly lower fuel consumption and lower operating costs through more modern engines, aerodynamic refinements, large curved winglets known as sharklets and weight savings, he said.
It also features cabin improvements such as more passenger seats, larger hand luggage spaces and an improved air purification system as well as reduced engine noise levels and a significantly increase flying range.
The aircraft which is 13 to 15 percent fuel efficient can fly a longer distance and the SriLankan airline was the first airline to take delivery of an A 320 neo aircraft, Padmaperuma said.
The wet lease of a SriLankan Airline aircraft with PIA has lapsed and the it will return to Colombo by the end of the week from Pakistan. A payment of US$ 3 million was due for the wet lease till February and is expected to be settled after closing the account and reconciliation is done.
“The PIA has always made prompt payments and expressed optimism on the early settlement of dues,” he said.
Commenting on the abolishing of the Paris and Frankfurt sector, he said it was the right decision because Paris and German were leisure markets and there were no businesses for French or the Germans to come here.
“So the business class never fills and as a result the airline loses. Moreover, the average ticket price we get to Paris is about US $ 200 per passenger. When you multiply 200 in to 200 is it US $ 40,000 which is not enough to sometimes fuel the aircraft to go to Paris,” he said.
“This year marks the 70th anniversary of the airline and we plan to take the service offering to the next level. The first new generation airbus which suits the region will be the way forward and we look forward to high level national carrier in the years to come,” Padmaperuma said.