By IANS,
New Delhi : Sri Lanka’s flagship carrier Sri Lankan Airlines will soon start floatplane services to the north of the island country, an area where a 25-year ethnic conflict came to an end two months ago following the defeat of the Tamil tigers.
Floatplane is a seaplane equipped with floats for landing on and taking off from water.
“Now as we have been able to bring peace in the northeastern region, we would launch float-plane services which would not only provide air connectivity to these places but also allow tourists to have a look at some of the island’s most scenic beaches,” Amith Sumanapala, general manager of the carrier, told IANS here.
There are only two domestic airports in Sri Lanka, besides the Colombo international airport.
The airline, which mainly flies abroad — to 37 destinations including seven in India — hopes to reach a break-even this fiscal though it suffered a Rs.6 billion (Sri Lankan currency) loss last fiscal.
“We have not performed well so far this year, but we expect to reach a break-even by this fiscal-end,” Sumanapala said on the sidelines of an event here.
Asked about the airline’s Indian operations, he said: “We maintain 70 to 80 percent of load factor in our services to India.”
Earlier, Sri Lankan Airlines had stopped services to a few Indian cities including Coimbatore.
Sumanapala said the carrier would cautiously go ahead with its international expansion plans. “We could look at code-sharing arrangements with other foreign carriers for the Middle Eastern and South Asian countries.”
He also announced a special package, including up and down tickets and two days’ stay in Sri Lanka, for around Rs.15,000.
“But these are for bulk bookings for at least 10 people, especially for corporates. We will be losing 40 percent on these offer packages. But we are looking at long term interests as we seek to double the tourist flow to 10 million by 2011,” Sumanapala said.