SriLankan Airlines Targets India With One World Connection
AINONLINE by NEELAM MATHEWS SriLankan Airlines is modernising and expanding its fleet with a mix of new Airbus and Boeing jets. [Photo: Neelam Mathews] May 8, 2014, 2:23 PM SriLankan Airlines appears poised to expand its reach into the neighboring Indian air transport market after becoming the 14th member of One World alliance late last month. The move is a boost to a country trying to bounce back after a 25-year civil war and makes SriLankan the first carrier from the Indian subcontinent to gain admission into a global airline alliance—ahead of rival operators in the far larger Indian market. The April 30 joining ceremony happened at Sri Lanka’s new Hambantota Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport, serving the south and east coasts of the country. But it is hub operations out of the capital Colombo that carry the potential to feed One World traffic to and from Indian cities. “India is an extended home market for us,” said...