SRILANKAN Airlines will join the oneworld airline alliance late next year.
The Sri Lankan flag carrier’s election as a oneworld member designate was unveiled this morning on the sidelines of the IATA 68th AGM & World Air Transport Summit in Beijing.
Cathay Pacific will serve as SriLankan’s sponsor, supporting the airline through the alliance implementation process.
SriLankan Airlines CEO, Kapila Chandrasena, said: “ With the world airline industry increasingly focused on alliances, SriLankan has carried out an in-depth analysis of the options available to us, and oneworld is clearly the best option. Joining the alliance will help put SriLankan firmly on the global aviation map and improve Sri Lanka’s connections with the rest of the world.”
SriLankan’s addition to oneworld will bring three new destinations on to the alliance’s network, all in Southern India – Kochi, Tiruchirapalli and Thiruvananthapuram. This will expand oneworld’s reach to roughly 850 destinations in more than 150 countries.
Once SriLankan is fully integrated, the 200,000 members of its FlySmiLes frequent flyer programme will be able to earn and redeem rewards, and avail of alliance fares on any of oneworld’s other carriers.
Oneworld member airlines currently serving Sri Lanka include Cathay Pacific from Hong Kong daily, and Royal Jordanian from Amman three times a week. The country’s capital, Colombo, is also on the network of oneworld member elect Malaysia Airlines.
Meanwhile, SriLankan has agreed in principle to codeshare with oneworld members Royal Jordanian and S7 Airlines, an airline based in Ob, Novosibirsk Oblast in Russia.
Operating a fleet of 21 aircraft, SriLankan ferried 3.5 million passengers last year between Colombo and 34 destinations across Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
