SriLankan Airlines (UL) to join oneworld alliance on 1 May 2014. It will be the first airline from the Indian subcontinent to enter any global alliance. The Colombo-based carrier’s addition will bring two new destinations to the network – Sri Lanka’s new Hambantota International (HRI) and India’s Tiruchirapalli (TRZ).
Cathay Pacific is sponsoring SriLankan’s entry into the alliance and has successfully reviewed the airline’s readiness to board oneworld.
From 1 May 2014, 100,000 members of SriLankan’s FlySmiLes loyalty programme will have their frequent flyer privileges extended to whenever they fly with any oneworld member airline including Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, airberlin, British Airways, Finnair, Iberia, S7 Airlines, Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian and American Airlines. oneworld will also welcome TAM and US Airways on board on 31 March this year.
FlySmiLes Platinum members will have Emerald status in the oneworld programme while FlySmiLes Gold will be equivalent to oneworld Sapphire and FlySmiLes Class will be oneworld Ruby. FlySmiLes Platinum and Gold members will enjoy the use of more than 600 airport lounges worldwide offered by oneworld member airlines whenever they fly with one of the alliance’s carriers. SriLankan Business Class passengers will also be able to use oneworld partner airline lounges.
150 million members of the oneworld airlines’ frequent flyer programmes will also be able to earn and redeem awards and tier status points and receive all the other oneworld benefits on SriLankan.
SriLankan currently code-shares with oneworld members Malaysia Airlines and S7 Airlines with code-share agreements with a number of other oneworld partners at an advanced stage of discussion.
SriLankan Airlines is the flag carrier airline for Sri Lankan and also the largest international airline serving the Maldives and a with a significant presence in southern India. It operates a fleet of 21 aircraft including seven Airbus A320s, five A330-200s and six A340-300s with an average age of nine years. It carried 4.7 million passengers in 2013 between its Colombo base and 32 destinations in 20 countries across Asia, Europe and the Middle East, including oneworld hubs Doha, Hong Kong, London Heathrow, Kuala Lumpur, Moscow Domodedovo and Tokyo Narita along with Bangkok and Singapore.
