SriLankan Airlines Will Become a Part of Oneworld Alliance
Asia's fast growing airline is expected to be implemented into oneworld late next year.
SriLankan Airlines, Asia’s fast growing airline is going to join oneworld, which is the world's leading quality airline alliance, reports PRNewswire. Its election as an oneworld member designate was announced during the meeting of the group's Board at IATA's 2012 World Air Transport Summit. The airline is expected to be implemented into oneworld late next year.
SriLankan already codeshares with oneworld member designate Malaysia Airlines – and today announced agreement in principle to codeshare also with oneworld partners Royal Jordanian and S7 Airlines.
SriLankan Airlines hasn’t stopped growing in the past few years, and it is making big plans for future expansion to its fleet and network in the next few years.
The airline operates a fleet of 21 aircraft and carried 3.5 million passengers last year in 22 countries across Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Besides flying as Sri Lanka's flag carrier, it is also the largest international carrier serving the neighboring Maldives and with a significant presence also in southern India.
Already, two established oneworld member airlines currently serve Sri Lanka, they are Cathay Pacific and Royal Jordanian. As SriLankan prepares to join, multiple opportunities for increasing the alliance's coverage of the country will be explored. Its addition will bring three new destinations on to the oneworld network, all in southern India, they are: Kochi, Tiruchirapalli and Thiruvananthapuram, expanding oneworld's global coverage to some 860 destinations in more than 150 countries, served by a combined fleet of almost 2,500 aircraft operating some 9,000 flights and carrying almost a million passengers every day, which generates an annual revenue of more than US$100 billion.
SriLankan customers will gain access to this truly global network, and all of the members of its FlySmiLes frequent flyer program will be able to earn rewards on any of oneworld's other carriers. Also, millions of frequent flyer cardholders of oneworld's established airlines will be able to earn rewards when flying on SriLankan.
As said SriLankan Airlines Chairman Nishantha Wickremasinghe: "With the world airline industry increasingly focused on alliances, SriLankan has carried out in-depth analysis of the options open to the airline as we enter this latest phase of our development. Oneworld is very clearly the best option for us. Joining the alliance will help put SriLankan more firmly on the global aviation map and vastly improve Sri Lanka's connections with the rest of the world, with all that means for our country's vital tourism industry."
Also, SriLankan Airlines Chief Executive Kapila Chandrasena added: "As an airline highly focused on quality service, we are extremely proud to have been invited to join the highest quality alliance with the best airline partners offering a global network that best complements our own. We look forward to completing all joining requirements as soon as possible."
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