SriLankan Airlines

Air Lanka was created by the government of Sri Lanka in July 1979 after the liquidation of Air Ceylon in 1978. Initially, the new airline began operating on two Boeing 707 leased from Singapore Airlines , but already in the same year Air Lanka acquired these aircraft. At the same time, another Boeing 737 airliner was used, which was used on short routes ^[10] . In the 1980s, the airline increased the number of destinations and aircraft. In the mid-1980s, Air Lanka used two Boeing 747-200 aircraft in several European destinations. By 1990, the company served 26 destinations. The airline’s gold plane was Lockheed L-1011 TriStar , which worked in the airline from 1980 to 2000. In December 1992, the carrier acquired the first Airbus A320 .

In 1998, the state-owned Air Lanka was partially privatized by the Emirates Group ( Dubai ) after the Emirates and the Sri Lankan government signed a ten-year strategic partnership agreement. This agreement included exclusive ground handling rights for aircraft and catering at Colombo Bandaranaike Airport. The Emirates acquired a 40% stake in Air Lanka for a total value of $ 70 million (which later increased to 43.6%), proceeding with the modernization of the air fleet and the adoption of measures aimed at increasing the image of the airline. The Sri Lankan government retained a majority stake in the carrier, but granted the Emirates Group full rights to make investments and make management decisions. In 1998, Air Lanka was renamed SriLankan Airlines ^[11] .

SriLankan acquired 6 Airbus A330-200s in addition to its fleet of Airbus A340-300 and A320-200 aircraft . The A330-200 aircraft joined the airline from October 1999 to July 2000. The fourth A340-300 arrived in Colombo, painted in the airline's new corporate livery. SriLankan rebranded the passenger salons of its own A340 airliners and redesigned the salons of these airliners into two classes - business and economic.

SriLankan Airlines has repeatedly suffered losses from terrorist attacks and natural disasters - an outbreak of SARS in the Asia-Pacific region , an Indian Ocean earthquake in 2004 , a civil war in Sri Lanka , an attack on the Bandaranaike airport, during which 4 airline liners were destroyed and 4 more were damaged its two aircraft, which in numerical terms amounted to half the carrier’s fleet.

SriLankan management decided to develop Colombo Airport as its own Asian hub , as a result of which a route segment of regional air transportation was formed and flights to India and the Middle East were opened.

At the same time, the company continued to expand the route network in other directions, began to operate regular flights to Jeddah , which became the third carrier airport in Saudi Arabia after Riyadh and Dammam , as well as the fifty-first destination in its own route network. The number of scheduled flights to the Middle East increased to nine.

On December 19, 2007, CEO Peter Hill was dismissed by the Sri Lankan government. The reason for the dismissal of the top manager was the significant financial losses of the airline as a result of hedging transactions ^[12] .

In 2008, the Emirates Group notified the Sri Lankan government of the absence of intentions to extend the airline management agreement ^[13] , which expired two months later, on March 31 of that year.

The official uniform of the airline’s cabin crew remained unchanged from the moment Air Lanka was founded until February 2010, then a new uniform was introduced. The first destination during the expansion was declared Shanghai ( China ), where the flight began operating on July 1, 2010 ^[14] . January 28, 2011 the airline began flights to Guangzhou ( China ) ^[15] . The company plans to start flights to Seoul , Sydney and Johannesburg in 2013, as well as to Copenhagen ^[16] , Ho Chi Minh City and Manila ^[17] .

In 2010, the Emirates Group sold its stake (43.63%) in the airline to the government of Sri Lanka ^[18] .

Active Fleet

As of February 2013, the SriLankan Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft with an average age of 9.3 years ^{[19] [20] [21]} :

Orders

By the end of 2013, the government will acquire six new A-330s for the national carrier. According to Minister of Civil Aviation Priyankar Jayaratne, SriLankan is undergoing a modernization phase, so the company will gradually get rid of its aging fleet.

SriLankan Airlines plans to expand its fleet to 30 aircraft over the next four years and is currently in talks with Airbus and Boeing on a deal that could include the delivery of nine long-haul airliners ^[23] . It is also possible to rent four additional Airbus A320 aircraft ^[24] . Kapila Chandrasen said that the carrier plans to add the Airbus A330-300 and Boeing 777 models for its fleet in order to replace them with the Airbus A340-300, beginning delivery in 2013-2014 ^[25] .

Cargo Fleet

SriLankan Airlines operates several cargo flights in the Middle East and India using the Douglas DC-8-63F at Expo Air and the Boeing 727-200F at Lankan Cargo.

Former Navy

• Official website of the airline
• Alliance official website