| You
are in About Us > News |
|
SriLankan Airlines’ Cargo Centre at the Bandaranaike
International Airport handled an all-time high 146,883 metric
tonnes of cargo during 2004, and looks set to do even better
this year.
The total easily outdid the earlier record of 127,116 tonnes
set in 2000, and is a dramatic 17% increase over 2003.
The record for the most amount of cargo handled in a month,
12,078 tonnes in March 2003, was broken no less than seven
times in 2004, with the highest being in October at 13,949
tonnes. This has already been beaten twice this year, and
the new high is 14,597 tonnes which was achieved in January.
“These record totals have been achieved through much
hard work and dedication and are a tribute to our staff, far
surpassing the present Cargo Centre’s designed capacity
of approximately 125,000 tonnes,” said Janaka Munasinghe,
Manager Cargo Operations at SriLankan. “We expect to
do even better when the Cargo Centre’s new warehouse
is completed in the fourth quarter of this year, which will
double our cargo handling capacity.”
SriLankan’s Cargo Centre dramatically increased its
efficiency following its adoption of the Japanese 5S System
two years ago, and recently received a Merit Award for the
second successive year at the JASTECA Taiki Akimoto 5S Awards.
Cargo totals have soared as SriLankan Cargo continues to
explore new avenues with its dedicated freighter service,
part of a strategy to make Colombo the “Hub in the Ocean.”
In April it launched a twice-weekly service to the southern
Indian industrial city of Coimbatore with its two Antonov
AN12F aircrafts, which each has a capacity of 17 tonnes. SriLankan
Cargo already operates regular freighter services to Chennai
(Madras), Bangalore, Trivandrum, and Male.
The strategy is proving to be very successful, with a total
of almost 22,000 tonnes of transshipment cargo in 2004, easily
overtaking the previous year’s 17,000 tonnes.
SriLankan Cargo has also been increasing its cargo handling
activities as the airline continues to expand. With the launch
of its Beijing service on June 15, SriLankan Airlines flies
to 48 destinations in 27 countries.
SriLankan’s Cargo Centre also handles cargo of all
other airlines that use the Bandaranaike International Airport.
Business at BIA plunged in 2001 following the attack on the
airport, with only 102,497 tonnes of airfreight, but began
a rapid recovery in 2002 with 113,891 tonnes. 2003’s
total of 124,522 tonnes almost broke the record.
SriLankan has turned itself into an award-winning airline
in recent years. Its accolades include "Best Airline"
in the Central Asia / Subcontinent region for four consecutive
years, "World's Friendliest Cabin Crew", First Runner-Up
for "World’s Best Cabin Staff", "World’s
Best Airline" in a survey of Economy class passengers,
"World’s Best In-flight Entertainment" for
a small airline, and “Best Airline Turnaround of the
Year 2004”. SriLankan’s sterling reputation for
punctuality prompted Airbus Industrie to name it the most
reliable airline anywhere in the world to operate A330 aircraft.
For more information on SriLankan Cargo, visit www.srilankancargo.aero
|
