Sri Lankan Airlines eyes expansion in Pakistan
Karachi: Sri Lankan Airlines on Friday vowed to expand its presence in the country with promises of frequent flights from Islamabad and Lahore in the near future.
Sri Lankan Airlines Chief Marketing Officer G T Jeyaseelan told a press conference here at a local hotel that Pakistan was an extremely important market for his carrier which operates a daily flight between Karachi and Colombo.
His remarks came soon after Sri Lankan Airlines opened its new office here on Friday morning following the appointment of the TCB Aviation Limited as the Airline’s General Sales Agent (GSA) in Pakistan.
“We look forward to a new era in our operations in Pakistan with the appointment of TCB Aviation as our GSA,” said Sri Lankan’s Head of Worldwide Sales Lal Perera.
Sri Lankan’s Country Manager in Pakistan Shermal Perera stressed the fact that his airlines is hoping to show more growth following its partnership with TCB Aviation.
“I’m proud to announce that Sri Lankan Airlines having started with three flights to Pakistan in 1980 have expanded its frequency to daily flights to Sri Lanka and beyond.
“While welcoming TCB Aviation to the Sri Lankan family, in partnership we look forward to taking our product and service to higher levels,” he said.
TCB Aviation CEO Ali Majid predicted a bright future for the Sri Lankan-TCB partnership.
“I call it a partnership which I’m sure will be beneficial for the both of us. This day is a landmark for the beginning of a great partnership between our two organisations in times ahead.”
“We aim to extend the services of the airline beyond Karachi and plan to open fully functional offices in Lahore and Islamabad by September this year. Our efforts will be to develop our business to a level that will further increase frequency of the Sri Lankan flights to Pakistan.”
Earlier, a traditional oil lamp ceremony took place at the brand new office of Sri Lankan Airlines on Friday morning. Sindh Law Minister Ayaz Soomro was the chief guest at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Also present at the well-attended event were senior Sri Lankan Airlines officials, Lalith De Silva and a number of bank presidents.(Pakistan Daily Times)
