Coming soon: Flatbeds and newest AVOD Entertainment on SriLankan

SriLankan Airlines will soon equip its long-haul fleet with Flatbed Seating and the latest Audio-Video-On-Demand (AVOD) Entertainment System, providing Business Class passengers on long-haul flights with the ultimate luxuries in air travel.

Captain Milinda Ratnayake, SriLankan’s Head of Service Delivery, said: “SriLankan will be one of the few airlines in the world to offer Flatbed Seats in Business Class on flights to Europe and other long-haul destinations. This further illustrates our statement that SriLankan’s Business Class is superior to others.”

Two of the airline’s existing fleet of four-engined Airbus A340 aircraft and four of its twin-engined A330 aircraft will be fitted with Flatbed Seating from Aviointeriors of Italy, commencing next May. The cabin conversion will be carried out at SriLankan’s engineering facilities at Colombo’s Bandaranaike International Airport, and would be completed by September.

In addition, the existing entertainment system will be replaced by AVOD from IMS of the United States, the latest in on-board entertainment.

 “Sri Lanka is fast gaining a reputation as a destination of choice among tourists in Europe, the Middle East, the Subcontinent, and the Far East. The number of tourist arrivals has been skyrocketing for more than a year now, and is expected to easily set a new record in 2010, which is projected to be quickly surpassed in 2011. With increased demand for hotel rooms, we expect Sri Lanka to attract more and more high-end tourists who will prefer to travel in luxury,” added Capt. Ratnayake.

Flatbed Seating is so named since the seat can be adjusted by its occupant to become completely flat and horizontal to the floor, providing a comfortable bed to sleep on while in flight. SriLankan’s latest aircraft – an A330 which arrived last July – already has Lie-Flat Seating in Business Class, which is almost to the standard of the Flatbeds.

SriLankan has steadily upgraded its Business Class service in the past year, introducing a Five-Star Meal Service on par with that provided in fine dining restaurants around the world, inclusive of award-winning wines, and an amazing array of beverages which includes SriLankan’s own signature cocktails. The Airline also provides a second meal which a passenger can request at any time on a flight – in the form of an A-La-Carte Meal on the concept of ‘Eat what you want, when you want’.

Every seat on SriLankan’s fleet of wide-bodied Airbus A330 and A340 aircraft already has a Touch Screen Entertainment System with over 40 Movie, Television and Radio channels, and 16 Interactive Games. It includes movies in Sinhala, Tamil, Hindi, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Urdu, Arabic, English and Malayalam, complete with a movie guide printed in the respective languages.