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SriLankan Airlines’ new plan to be like Emirates

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In a bid to turn the loss making airline into a profitable venture, SriLankan Airlines has come up with a five-year strategic plan. Part of the plan will see them emulating industry leader Emirates, with a new hub and spoke network model.

In a statement SriLankan Airlines said:

“SriLankan Airlines has formulated a new five-year Strategic Business Plan for the period 2019-24 with the objective of transforming itself into a financially viable organization airline group with high brand visibility and a global reputation for excellence,”

They went on to say that the national carrier had an ‘enormous contribution’ to make to the GDP of Sri Lanka, including import, export and tourism.

What is SriLankan Airlines planning?

Their latest five year strategic business plan includes major development of the Colombo hub to make it a key connecting point for a variety of markets. SriLankan are targeting passengers connecting through Africa, Asia and the Middle East, in a bid to grow as big as rival airline Emirates.

As a member of Oneworld, SriLankan are hoping to leverage their membership to develop their network for the future. In contrast to their current point to point model, they plan to work on more of a hub and spoke model to develop new opportunities.

The plan is to be presented to the Government of Sri Lanka for approval shortly.

New routes and fleet

Currently, SriLankan Airlines operate with a fleet of 27 Airbus aircraft. Specifically, these are 13 A320 family aircraft and 14 A330s. As part of the five year plan, the carrier intends to select new fleet inclusions which match the requirement of their developing route network. They have also said they want to reconfigure their existing fleet to offer an enhanced business class service.

Already, the airline has announced a fifth weekly service between Colombo and Tokyo from July onwards, using its Airbus A330-300s. If the plan is formalized by the government, we expect to see many more new route announcements over the coming weeks.

As well as routes and fleet, the plan specifies that it will:

  • Enhance the customer experience by improving customer-centricity throughout the airline
  • Adopt best practices to improve productivity
  • Grow online sales to reach a wider market in a more cost effective manner
  • Improve employee engagement
  • Implement a competitive cost structure through a greater cost consciousness throughout the company

The plan is being headed up by Group Chief Executive Officer Vipula Gunatilleka, who was appointed to the airline in mid-2018. Prior to joining SriLankan, Gunatilleka was a board member and CFO of TAAG Angola. There, he worked closely with Emirates while they were managing TAAG, so no doubt knows his hub and spoke business very well already.

A loss-making airline

The airline is undergoing a major shakeup with a view to turning a profit. Over the last nine months, the carrier’s net loss more than doubled to a total loss of $135m. It is hoped that the five year strategic plan being tabled today will transform the airline by 2024.

 

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United Airlines announces new Florida service

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United Airlines today announced more flights and more opportunities for customers to connect between Washington, D.C., and Florida. Beginning October 29, United will begin new twice-daily, year-round service between Washington Dulles and Fort Myers and Sarasota in Florida. Additionally, United will begin operating extended seasonal winter service between Miami and Washington Dulles starting two months earlier than originally planned in October 2019.
United’s new service to Fort Myers and Sarasota complements the airline’s growing Florida network of more than 50 routes served from Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, New York/Newark, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

“These new routes offer our customers many more opportunities to conveniently travel year-round between Florida and our Washington hub,” said Ankit Gupta, United’s vice president of Domestic Network Planning. “Our schedule offers customers from Fort Myers and Sarasota easy connections to more than 130 flights across the United States and 11 European destinations with just one stop.”

United in Florida

In addition to its new service between Washington Dulles and Fort Myers and Sarasota, United operates more than 140 daily flights to 12 Florida cities. Effective October 27, United will offer the following service from its U.S. hubs to Florida.

City Destination

Chicago Destin/Fort Walton Beach, Key West, Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Orlando, Miami, West Palm Beach, Panama City, Pensacola, Fort Myers, Sarasota, Tampa

Cleveland Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Orlando, Tampa

Denver Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Orlando, Fort Myers, Tampa, Miami, West Palm Beach, Pensacola, Sarasota, Destin/Fort Walton Beach

Houston Panama City, Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Orlando, Miami, West Palm Beach, Pensacola, Fort Myers, Tampa, Destin/Fort Walton Beach

Los Angeles Orlando

New York/Newark Key West, Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Orlando, Miami, West Palm Beach, Fort Myers, Sarasota, Tampa

San Francisco Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Miami, Tampa

Washington Dulles Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Orlando, Miami, Tampa, Fort Myers, Sarasota

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London to Chengdu now direct

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panda

Heathrow today has welcomed Air China’s thrice-weekly service to Chengdu, home to the Giant Panda Breeding Research Base and Sichuan Cuisine.  The launch of the service comes as new CEBR research shows a remarkable rise in the value of Chinese exports via Heathrow.

Heathrow’s new route to Chengdu is the airport’s 12th direct connection to China. The number of Chinese connections via the UK’s hub airport has more than doubled since the start of 2018 when there were just five routes available. To fly to Chengdu, Air China will use an A330-200 aircraft facilitating the transport of 80,000 passengers a year and 3,744 tonnes of cargo between China and the UK.

Heathrow’s latest Trade Tracker, by economic analysts CEBR, shows that while China’s own exports have decreased, the exports to China from Heathrow are not showing any sign of slowing down. China is now the third most valuable export destination from the airport, following the US and the EU.  Exports via Heathrow to China have grown in value by 135% in 2018 compared to 2017, totaling over £7 billion. The same analysis shows that, on average, every operational hour at Heathrow sees nearly £10 million of exports fly out across the world.

An analysis of Heathrow cargo data value reveals the top exports flying via the airport to China in 2018. The top annual export, pharmaceuticals, was valued at an astounding US$461.05 million. Other top exports by value include:

1.      Aerospace materials –  US $334.24 million

2.      Art – US $151.9 million

3.      Computers – US $67.69 million

4.      Clothing and fashion accessories –  US $29.8 million

5.      Footwear – US $12.6 million

By identifying efficiencies and gaps in schedules, Heathrow has been able to accommodate new routes to China.  However, this is a limited and piecemeal approach.  Expansion of Heathrow, the UK’s only hub airport and biggest port by value, will allow Britain the opportunity to build and maintain the vitally important trade connections to China the country needs, especially with a future outside the EU.

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Thank you for flying TAP Air Portugal: Welcome to Tel Aviv

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Israel has about 9 million inhabitants and annually receives more than 4 million visitors. TAP Air Portugal landed its inaugural flight between Lisbon and Israel on time on Sunday night at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv.

With this new route, TAP will offer connecting service from the United States via its Lisbon hub. Like all TAP’s “beyond Portugal” destinations, Tel Aviv qualifies for the airline’s stopover program en route.

TAP’s daily flight leaves Lisbon at 2:20 pm and arrives in Tel Aviv at 9:30 pm. From Tel Aviv, flights depart at 5:05 am, arriving in Lisbon at 9:00 am.

One of Israel’s main tourist attractions is the city of Jerusalem, where one can visit holy sites of various religions. Within walking distance are the Holy Sepulcher (Christian), the Wailing Wall (Jewish) and the Mosque of Al-Aqsa (Muslim).

But Tel Aviv, Jaffa, Nazareth, Tiberias, Caesarea, Haifa, the Dead Sea region, and in the Palestinian part, Bethlehem and Jericho, among other points, also have many attractions.

The Portugal Stopover comprises a network of more than 150 partners who provide exclusive offers for Stopover customers for hotels discounts and complimentary experiences such as tuk-tuk tours, visits to museums, dolphin watching in the River Sado and food tastings – even a free bottle of Portuguese wine in participating restaurants.

Travelers can also enjoy a stopover in Lisbon or Porto even if their final destination is in Portugal, such as: Faro (Algarve); Ponta Delgada or Terceira (the Azores); and, Funchal or Porto Santo (Madeira).

Furthermore, Stopover passengers can also create a multi-destination journey, making it will be possible to travel to one destination and return from another. For example, people may choose to fly to Barcelona then return from Seville, but they will still qualify for a stopover in Lisbon or Porto on either their outbound or return travel. Stopover visits are now also available on just one-way travel to Europe or Africa.

TAP will receive 37 new aircraft by the end of this year — and 71 by 2025 — thus becoming the operator of one of the most modern fleets in the world. This renewal and growth of the fleet has allowed TAP to announce new routes and more frequencies. From the United States, new service from San Francisco, Washington DC, and Chicago start in June. TAP has also announced new routes including Naples, Tenerife, Dublin, Basel and Conakry for 2019.

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Boston-Logan Airport: New international routes

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The last 24 hours have brought 2 new international flights to Boston Logan International Airport, thanks to Delta joint venture partners KLM and Virgin Atlantic – setting the stage for a year of growth and expansion for Delta in the Northeast.

Delta Air Lines and its partners KLM, Virgin Atlantic, and Korean Air will offer up to 149 daily departures to more than 50 destinations from Boston-Logan Airport in 2019, an increase of nearly 30 daily departures compared to 2018. New routes include Amsterdam, London-Heathrow, Lisbon, Edinburgh, and Seoul.

KLM – Amsterdam

On March 31, KLM began flying between Boston and Amsterdam, adding to the two daily flights to Amsterdam already operated at Logan Airport by Delta. KLM CEO Pieter Elbers joined officials from Massport, Delta leaders, customers and employees at the airport in a ribbon-cutting ceremony ahead of the outbound flight across the Atlantic.

Virgin Atlantic – London-Heathrow

And on April 1, Virgin Atlantic launched its daytime service from Boston to London-Heathrow – a morning departure that will better enable in-flight workday productivity for London-bound business travelers. Virgin and Delta together now offer three daily flights to Heathrow Airport from Boston.

Delta – Lisbon and Edinburgh

Later this spring, Delta will begin its own seasonal Boston service to Lisbon and Edinburgh, rounding out a full slate of new international destinations now directly accessible to Boston customers. Through this and an extended summer season to Dublin, by May Delta and its partners will offer the most international seats from Boston with flights to up to 19 international destinations — more than ever before.

Korean Air – Seoul-Incheon

A third partner, Korean Air, will start new service in Boston on April 12, when it begins nonstop flights to Seoul, one of the first additions to that joint venture’s transpacific network since Delta and Korean Air launched their partnership last May.

This new Boston flying comes as Delta continues to reinforce its position as the city’s leading carrier and deepen its investment at Logan Airport and in the greater Boston community. Overall, the airline and its partners will offer up to 149 daily departures to more than 50 destinations from Logan in 2019, an increase of nearly 30 daily departures compared to 2018.

Delta has doubled domestic daily departures out of Boston since 2013 and this year will serve four additional domestic destinations — Cleveland, Chicago, Washington-Reagan, and Newark-Liberty — while also adding more frequencies in another seven key domestic markets. Overall, the airline and its partners will offer up to 149 daily departures to more than 50 destinations from Logan in 2019, an increase of nearly 30 daily departures compared to 2018.

In addition to Delta’s network growth, the airline is also investing in Boston in other ways. With Massport’s partnership, Delta plans to assume operations at all gates at Logan’s Terminal A by the third quarter of 2019, growing its airport footprint by five gates. Delta also plans by 2020 the expansion of one of its Delta Sky Clubs, including new showers, expanded seating and a reimagined food and beverage area.

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