The story
History
Management
In 1979, after the removal of airline manager Nimesh Fernando, Sri Lanka's president, JR Jayawardene, initially did not interfere after entrusting the airline to Captain Rakitha Wickramanayake and the board of directors, consisting of industry officials and managers. The former prime minister of Singapore asked, "How could an airline pilot run an airline?" A 1986 presidential commission reported on the mismanagement of the board of the airline under President Dingiri Wijetunga's appointment of a retired general as chairman/MD with air vice marshals and a UNP attorney as executive directors. None of them knew how to run an airline.
Fleet expansion
Air Lanka was established as the flag carrier of Sri Lanka once the government shut down the bankrupt Air Ceylon. Air Lanka's initial fleet consisted of two Boeing 707s, leased from Singapore Airlines. One Boeing 737 was leased from Maersk Air and maintained by Air Tara. On 24 April 1980, the lease ended; Air Lanka received a replacement Boeing 737 leased from Royal Brunei Airlines. On 1 November 1980, Air Lanka commenced wide-body operations which were leased Lockheed L1011-1 Tristar aircraft from Air Canada.
On 15 April 1982, Air Lanka purchased a TriStar from All Nippon Airways. Another TriStar was leased from Air Canada whilst a third was purchased from All Nippon. With the introduction of TriStar aircraft, the Boeing 707s were phased out. On 1 May 1982, HAECO took over the maintenance of the two Air Lanka-owned TriStars, while Air Canada maintained the two leased TriStars.
On 28 March 1980, Air Lanka signed a purchase agreement for two brand new Lockheed L1011-500 TriStars, the most advanced wide-body aircraft in the world at that time. The first L-1011-500 (4R-ULA, "City Of Colombo") was accepted on 26 August 1982, at Palmdale, California. It was flown to Amsterdam as flight 566P. On 28 August, 4R-ULA left for its inaugural flight from Amsterdam to Colombo as UL566. It reached Colombo on 29 August. This was followed by the second Lockheed L1011-500, 4R-ULB, "City of Jayewardenepura". On 8 June 1984, the airline received its first Boeing 747-200B "King Vijaya" and the second joined later. The aircraft were used on flights to Europe and a few flights to southeast Asia. However, they were quickly retired in 1987. In 1994, Air Lanka became the Asian launch customer of the Airbus A340-300.
Rebranding
Air Lanka, which was state-owned, was partially privatised in 1998, with investment by the Emirates Group which signed an agreement with the Sri Lankan government for a ten-year strategic partnership. This agreement included exclusive rights for all aircraft ground handling and airline catering at Colombo-Bandaranaike airport for ten years. Emirates bought a 40% stake worth US$70 million (which it later increased to 43.6%) in Air Lanka and sought to refurbish the airline's image and fleet. The government retained a majority stake in the airline but gave full control to Emirates for investment and management decisions. In 1998, Air Lanka re-branded to SriLankan Airlines.
SriLankan acquired six Airbus A330-200s to complement its fleet of Airbus A340-300 and Airbus A320-200s. The A330-200 joined the airline between October 1999 and July 2000. The company's fourth A340-300 arrived at Colombo painted in the airline's new corporate livery. SriLankan upgraded its existing A340 fleet into a two-class configuration (business and economy class) whilst overhauling the interior to reflect the new corporate image.
The airline gradually increased its number of destinations with more additions for regional markets, notably India and the Middle East. Whilst continuing expansion in the region, SriLankan commenced flying to Jeddah, its third destination in Saudi Arabia, after Riyadh and Dammam, thus increasing the number of destinations in the Middle East to nine. Jeddah became the airline's 51st destination overall.
In 2008, Emirates notified the Sri Lankan Government that it would not renew its management contract, which then expired on 31 March 2008. It claimed that the Sri Lankan Government was seeking greater control over the day-to-day management of the airline. Emirates sold its 43.63% stake in the airline back to the Government of Sri Lanka in a deal that was finalised in 2010, thus ending their partnership.
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Modern era
In 2008, when Emirates pulled out, the accumulated profit of SriLankan was Rs. 9.288 billion in that financial year. From 2008 to 2015, when the government ran it, the loss for the seven years was Rs. 128.238 billion (US$875 million).
Following the ownership transfer, SriLankan began promoting Colombo as a hub for flights to Asia. The first destination of the expansion plan was Shanghai; the route was initiated on 1 July 2010. The airline commenced flights to Guangzhou on 28 January 2011.
SriLankan joined the Oneworld alliance on 1 May 2014. During 2014, it started to renew and increase its fleet, with purchases of Airbus A330 and A350 models. Currently, SriLankan operates an all-Airbus fleet except for its discontinued Air-Taxi services. SriLankan retired their last Airbus A340-300 on 7 January 2016 with its last scheduled flight from Chennai to Colombo.
The airline terminated three European routes – Frankfurt, Paris and Rome – by the end of 2016, though the former two were resumed four years later.
The airline absorbed the operations of sister carrier Mihin Lanka in October 2016, in a bid to create a single stronger national airline for Sri Lanka. Accordingly, SriLankan took over two of Mihin Lanka's aircraft and absorbed its route network, adding ten new destinations to SriLankan's route network.
In October 2017, SriLankan launched direct daily non-stop flights to Melbourne, Australia, its first new long-haul route in over five years and the most ambitious expansion to date. The flights restore a regular direct air link between Australia and Sri Lanka after a hiatus of sixteen years. This route has proved particularly popular and has been responsible with increased numbers of Australian tourists holidaying in Sri Lanka.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, SriLankan performed cargo and operating relief flights. On 1 February 2020, it operated a relief flight out of Wuhan, China.
SriLankan lost 36.3 billion rupees up to August 2020 and the government approved a voluntary retirement package for 560 employees at a cost of 1.46 billion rupees.
From May 2022, due to the ongoing economic crisis in Sri Lanka which resulted in the country facing a fuel shortage, SriLankan's long-haul flights had to make stopovers at Chennai, Trivandrum, and Kochi in India to refuel.
For the financial year 2022–2023, SriLankan Airlines achieved a break-even for the first time in over a decade and posted a net profit of $3 million.
SriLankan Airlines won the 2024 IFSA Best Inflight Food or Beverage Innovation Award at the APEX (Airline Passenger Experience Association) and IFSA (International Flight Services Association) Global Expo October 2023.
In late February 2026, SriLankan Cargo, the air freight arm of SriLankan Airlines, became the first airline in South Asia to be awarded the Center of Excellence for Independent Validators (CEIV) for Live Animals Logistics Certification from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Former livery (1979–1998)
Upon its inception in 1979, the airline operated under the name Air Lanka. The original livery featured:
Fuselage: A "cheatline" design consisting of two parallel red stripes running along the window line against a white upper fuselage
Titles: The name "AIRLANKA" was printed in bold, above the cheatline towards the front of the aircraft.
Tail Fin: A solid red and sported the corporate logo, a stylised vimana locally known as Dandu Monara (Flying Peacock Aircraft) of King Ravana of ancient Lanka, Ravana, as per the famous Ramayana mythology. The five "tail feathers" represent the "Five Precepts" (Pancasila) of Buddhism and the three "crown feathers" represent the "Triple Gem" (Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha) of Buddhism. Red reflects the predominant colour in the Sri Lankan national flag, which represents the majority race in the country, the Sinhalese.
Present livery (1999–present)
Following a 40% acquisition by Emirates in 1998, the airline was rebranded as SriLankan Airlines in 1999. The new visual identity was unveiled in Colombo with the arrival of a new Airbus A340.
Fuselage: A clean, all-white "Eurowhite" fuselage, removing the traditional cheatlines.
Titles: The wordmark "SriLankan" is written in a stylized, cursive-inspired font in dark blue.
Tail Fin: The Dandu Monara logo was replaced by a modern, abstract "Flying Bird" emblem prominently displayed against a white background. The emblem features a tri-color palette of Red, Orange, and Green, representing the colors of the Sri Lankan national flag.
Underbelly: A blue design resembling ocean waves, paired with the "Visit Sri Lanka" promotional slogan.
From Wikipedia’s article on SriLankan Airlines, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4