Saturday Dec 14, 2024
Saturday Dec 14, 2024
Wednesday, 3 October 2012 00:55 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Shanuka Tissera
National carrier SriLankan Airlines yesterday announced that they will be hosting the second International Air Transport Association (IATA) Global Human Capital Summit in November. This comes at a time to help catapult Sri Lanka to become a global aviation hub.
The IATA summit will bring together the best in global aviation to share and discuss harnessing the full potential of their 
people resource to make air travel efficient and create a comfortable experience for global travellers.
The event is also a part of IATA’s continuing efforts to meet the human capital challenges faced by the industry. The three day summit will take place from 12 to 14 November and will have delegates from over 60 airlines and 150 professionals.
“We have chosen SriLankan for its position in the heart of Asia. The island has a growing tourism industry, a well educated client oriented population, a dynamic airline which is providing great support in organising this industry event and we look forward to meeting in Colombo,” said IATA Vice President of Human Capital Guido Gianasso.
The summit in November will feature many distinguished speakers from the air travel industry’s human resource fraternity and will address key issues such as attracting and retaining talent, to developing the next generation of global aviation leaders. Managing cost, exceptional levels of customer service and maximising the use of technological advancements to engage the workforce.
This was the first time SriLankan Airlines’ made a bid to host the Summit and the resulting winning bid will give Sri Lanka’s aviation industry, some of the exposure and learning it will need to manage its hub ambitions, an extravagant event that will proudly coincide with the celebration of its 100th year in aviation.
“This is a vitally important event for the whole industry but specifically for Sri Lanka. The exchange of ideas and methodologies will provide a spectrum of opportunities to increase our growth. By 2014, we are expected to be in the black and will be increasing out fleet size,” announced SriLankan Airlines Chairman Nishantha Wickremasinghe.
Sri Lanka is also on target to receive over 2.5 million tourists by 2016, a 30% compounded growth over five years, which will require a massive effort in human resource development to sustain the growth momentum.
A strong factor that helped SriLankan Airlines to host the IATA Human Capital Summit was the airlines’ efforts in expanding its own training arm. The International Aviation Academy (IAA), which was recognised as one of IATA’s top ten authorised training centres in South Asia. SriLankan’s Head of Human Resources Pradeepa Kekulawala said “building human capital to compliment emerging business needs is the greatest challenge in the industry at this present time. This is of paramount importance to our country as we need to bridge the skill divide between us as the leading carriers, if we are to boast of a competitive edge in our endeavours to take the airline to greater heights.”
The summit will bring home the best minds in talent building and optimising the aviation industry. This event is on track to become an annual event which was first launched last year in Singapore by IATA.
Pix by Lasantha Kumara
