Attack on Lankans proves costly for airlines

13 September 2012 03:36 am - 9 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

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After the recent attack on Sri Lankan pilgrims in Thanjavur, the load factor in flights from Colombo has drastically reduced. At a time when Sri Lanka was planning to increase its services to Colombo by three more flights in its winter schedule, the diminution in incoming passenger trend has come as a great blow to airlines, immigration sources said.

Trichy airport offers daily flights to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Colombo. Sri Lankan Airlines and Mihin Lanka together operate 18 services a week to Colombo, their hub. While Sri Lankan Airlines flight arrives in Trichy at 8.35 am and 2.40 pm daily, Mihin operates four services a week on Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. After the recent attack on Sinhala pilgrims on Tamil Nadu soil, the Sri Lankan government issued an advisory to its citizens not to venture into Tamil Nadu without taking enough precautions.

An immigration officer said a single imprudent incident had dealt a great blow to the economy of the Sri Lankan and Mihin airlines, that were in the process of introducing four more direct services to Colombo from Trichy in its winter schedule. "Now, we are having second thoughts," said a source from the airline.

After the ethnic Eelam war came to an end, the Trichy-Colombo sector was patronized by the Sinhala public more than ever. The entry of Christian pilgrims was only a recent phenomenon. For instance, just a week prior to the Christian pilgrims' attack, around 150 Buddhist monks landed in Trichy and proceeded to Chennai in three hired buses. Usually, these monks make it a point to visit the Sri Lanka Maha Bodhi Centre at Kenneth Lane opposite Egmore railway station before going to Buddhist shrines such as Gaya and Sarnath. These pilgrims prefer Trichy, for it offers them an opportunity to visit other pilgrim centres in the region such as Sri Rangam Sri Renganathar temple, Thanjavur Big Temple and Samayapuram Maha Mariamman temple. The immigration officer said these people would continue to visit India for there was no hurdle in the issuance of visas, but they would rather prefer Trivandrum rather than Trichy.

Interestingly, the launching of the inaugural flight to Colombo from Madurai airport by SpiceJet could not have come at a more inopportune time. The first-ever international flight takes off from Madurai on September 20 and SpiceJet has trimmed down the fare to an incredible Rs 6,000 for a return ticket till October when their winter schedule takes effect. Sri Lankan Airlines will follow suit in the near future. Sources said though the inaugural flight was fully booked, the load factor in the return direction was less than 20%, a factor directly attributed to the recent attack on Sinhala pilgrims. However, one will not get all the seats for RS 6,000 as the pricing takes effect for every 10 seats on first-come-first-served basis, explained an employee of SpiceJet.

Moreover, the incident has also hit the travel, leisure and textile industry in Trichy as well. Sri Lankan travel agents said though the volume of loss could not be quantified immediately, it would nevertheless be in the region of 40 to 60% of lost ticket sales as most of the flights coming from Colombo are empty except for the transit passengers from Gulf countries. Sri Lankan Airlines at present runs 18 services a week including four by Mihin Lanka. The incoming Sinhala tourists patronized textiles of famous brands in Trichy, and now they will not risk their lives just for a pair of clothes, said an officer. Likewise, the leisure travellers to Colombo from Tamil Nadu who in the recent past chose the island to break the monotony of visiting only Kodaikanal or Ooty, might now prefer either Singapore or Kuala Lumpur, said a travel agent.

The officer said that around 2,300 passengers fly out of Trichy every day, and an average of not less than 5,500 people come to the airport to see their family or friends off. These people contribute to the travel and leisure industry in the city. The fact that the airport was close at hand at a distance of a mere seven km from the city centre found favour with many working class passengers who take a bus to their destinations right across the airport.

Air India and Lankan Air's Loss Is Tiger Airways And Air Asia's gain

Trichy: The loss of Sri Lankan Airlines and Air India Express (that does not anyway operate a direct service on the Trichy-Colombo sector) may be the gain of Air Asia, that is planning to add four services a week to Kuala Lumpur, and Tiger Airways, by two more services to Singapore in their winter schedule.

Allegations have persisted that Air India Express purposely ceded all the important sectors to foreign airlines for reasons best known to it. The well-known fiasco of Air India Express coupled with the recent infamous pilot strike apart, questions remain as to why Air India Express chose to shut down all profitable sectors. The first major blow to Trichy travellers landed two years ago when the much-preferred Chennai-Trichy-Trivandrum-Sharjah flight was taken off schedule. The flight returned to Trichy via Trivandrum and then landed at Chennai around 6.40 pm just in time for Trichy passengers to catch the airlines' Delhi flight that took off from Chennai at 7.15 pm.

A Chennai-Trichy-Calicut-Kuwait service was operated by the airline thrice a week, and then brought down to twice a week, before being taken off its schedule last year. The airlines' Trichy-Kuala Lumpur direct service operated twice a week; was then upgraded to a daily service last year, and then finally scrapped altogether last year. Air India Express's daily service to Dubai has now been reduced to thrice a week, the second service to a foreign destination from Trichy, apart from the daily service to Singapore. Even in the domestic sector, it cancelled the Mumbai-Trichy daily service, after the airline preferred the Trivandrum hangar for serving its south-bound aircraft.

On the contrary, Air Asia, which now operates daily services at 9.25 am from Trichy to Kuala Lumpur, will add four more services from October 15. The additional flights will depart from Trichy at 4.30 pm. Similarly, Tiger Airways that currently operates nine direct services a week to Singapore, will add four flights (Monday, Sunday, Wednesday and Friday) post October 27 in its winter schedule. At present, Tiger operates daily at midnight (00.05) and its 12.50 pm service on Wednesdays and Sundays were added only last month. Tiger also launched a direct Singapore to Colombo service two months ago, a decision that would now prove to be profitable. (The Times Of India)

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Comments - 9

sri Lankaan Thursday, 13 September 2012 04:32 AM

End results in economy....

Nodrog Thursday, 13 September 2012 05:09 AM

Thanks to the shortsightedness and immaturity of Jayalalitha. Her playing to the gallery is having bigger consequences then she expected and fingers are pointed at her now.

Pandula Thursday, 13 September 2012 05:25 AM

Tamilnadu should take under central government.

sandman Thursday, 13 September 2012 06:15 AM

SriLankan airlines already spoon feeding MIHIN LANKA, wonder what the consequences would be on the whole picture for SriLankan.

Nanda Thursday, 13 September 2012 06:25 AM

Many solutions.

1. Increase direct flights to Buddagaya/Varanasi ect
2. Use alternative way (via Kerala...)

Maharajah Thursday, 13 September 2012 02:44 PM

Why are we reading Indian Media reports??? Cant this paper produce its own? Shame.. bladdy shame...

anticleon Thursday, 13 September 2012 04:47 PM

so they lament over this. what about the billions disspeared from mihin lanka? any analyses about them?

Raj Friday, 14 September 2012 12:12 AM

because we do not know how to write reports in English without making mistakes. Because we are idiots from Sri Lanka.

Ann Friday, 12 October 2012 03:28 AM

thanks

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Attack on Lankans proves costly for airlines

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