SriLankan Airlines achieves record passenger revenue
Colombo, April 16: SriLankan Airlines, the flag carrier of the island nation, on Monday said it had achieved a record annual passenger revenue of $830 for the 2017-18 fiscal, the highest ever in the company's 38-year history.
In a statement, the airline said the revenue came as a result of its recent expansion to several new destinations such as Hyderabad (India), Gan Islands (Maldives) and Melbourne with additional frequencies to popular cities in its network, reports Xinhua news agency.
Both passenger and cargo divisions exceeded their annual target, enabling the SriLankan Airlines Group to exceed the overall annual revenue target.
SriLankan Airlines CEO Captain Suren Ratwatte said this was the first instance of the airline achieving its annual revenue target since Emirates left as its managing partner 10 years ago.
"This comes at a turbulent time for the industry when most airlines are facing difficulty maintaining their yields due to intense competition. SriLankan has just completed a year of significant expansion with minimal erosion on yields and ended the year comfortably exceeding the revenue target," Ratwatte said.
The airline said the year had been one of transformation in which it inducted four brand new fuel efficient narrow-bodied aircraft to the fleet, becoming the first A321neo aircraft operator in Asia.
A new Board of Directors was also appointed last month to accelerate the restructuring process and create the enabling environment to proceed with entering into a Public-Private-Partnership with a strategic investor.
In February, Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena appointed a special Presidential Commission to investigate alleged large-scale frauds and malpractices in SriLankan Airlines, after the company recorded severe losses.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
