Srilankan mulls further flight cuts in Europe

Srilankan Airlines is closing monitoring the viability of off-peak flights to other European destinations after this week deciding to cancel off-peak flights to Italy and Switzerland due to rising fuel costs and lower load factors.

The airline would continue to look at flights, primarily in Europe, as to whether or not to reduce (off-peak) flights to more of these markets, Chief Marketing Officer G.T. Jayaseelan told the Business Times. He noted that whenever they opt to pull out they would use this capacity to make money.

An airline statement said earlier this week that the airline will cancel flights to Zurich, Switzerland during the off-peak from 1st May to 26th June and resume from 27th June until 31st August 2012. Similarly, Srilankan’s Rome and Milan services will be cancelled during off-peak from 5th May to 26th June and resume from 27th June until 9th September.

However in a clarification on Friday, the airline said: “Certain capacity adjustments to its European route network, are being discussed in line with the off peak period in Europe. With May and June in Europe being the traditional off peak, the airline will review its frequencies based on the actual demand in the countries to which SriLankan presently operates to.”

It will continue to serve its traditional European gateways which serve a large clientele that fly direct and beyond to several destinations in Europe and the Americas.