The Hindu Business Line : SriLankan keen on more flights to India — Tsunami, fuel costs hit airline's margins

THE national airline of Sri Lanka, SriLankan, which is likely to end the year in the red, is looking to further expand its services in India, a senior official said on Wednesday.

The airlines Head of Commercial, Mr Barry Brown, told Business Line that several global incidents, including the rising cost of fuel and the tsunami tragedy were likely to put tremendous pressure on the airlines' bottom-line this year.

"This year has been very tough for the airline. We are striving to break-even during the financial year ending March 31. While at the start of the year, we had estimated fuel to cost around $1.50 per gallon, last month itself, the price crossed $2 per gallon.

In a situation where an increase of every one cent wipes of $1 million from the bottom-line, it is possible that the airline ends the year in the red," Mr Brown said.

However, while the airline may report a loss, the SriLankan Airline Group will report a profit, Mr Brown pointed out and added that there was every possibility that a dividend is paid this year also.

The group includes divisions looking after catering and airport services apart from the airline.

Commenting on the airline's plans for India, Mr Brown said the cities under the SriLankan spotlight include Pune, Goa, Ahmedabad and Kolkata. "Shortly after starting cargo operations to Pune, we started getting e-mails asking why we do not consider launching a passenger service to the city," Mr Brown said.

The airline, which is the largest foreign airline operating 88 flights a week from 10 Indian cities to Colombo, is also keen to extend the Kolkata flight to Dhaka. It is also examining the possibility of putting larger aircraft on the India route. The airline mostly operates the single-aisle Airbus A-320 to most cities here.

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