SriLankan Airlines unveils five-year strategic plan

SriLankan Airlines yesterday announced the rollout of its new five-year strategic plan to steer the airline towards financial stability, debt restructuring, operational efficiency and recovery from recent fleet disruptions. 

“Moving forward, SriLankan will focus on achieving financial stability through ongoing debt restructuring, fleet expansion, integration of global sustainability practices and adoption of technological innovations to deliver seamless experiences for the passengers of tomorrow,” the national carrier said in a statement.

SriLankan Airlines has committed to new measures aimed at reducing waste across the board, including optimising fuel usage through enhanced digital flight monitoring; automating office processes further to cut paper consumption; and implementing energy-saving practices and real-time kitchen monitoring at SriLankan Catering.

Under its current leadership, the airline has made progress over the past year, from optimising fleet management and driving revenue growth to enhancing customer experience, talent development, advancing sustainability, cost rationalisation and restructuring debt.

SriLankan Airlines has improved its on-time performance to 74% this year, up from 69% in 2024, driven by agile fleet management despite global engine and spare parts shortages and performance challenges. 

Supported by cutting-edge fleet management software, new measures have enabled faster fleet maintenance turnarounds, proactive scheduling, maintenance staggering and precise spare parts stocking, while new in-house facilities for calibration, testing and inspections have strengthened the airline’s autonomy. 

Throughout these efforts, SriLankan has never lost sight of its foremost priority, the safety of its customers and crew.  

Additionally, two aircraft grounded for an extended period due to engine unavailability have now returned to service, with a third set to join operations early next year. In June, the airline inducted a leased Airbus A330-200 wide-body aircraft, marking its first wide-body fleet addition in seven years and enabling the expansion of operations and services.

Over the past year, SriLankan Airlines has streamlined its network through route rationalisation, demand-synchronised schedules and enhanced digital sales platforms, leading to revenue growth.  

Key initiatives include revised timings on Indian routes, particularly Bangalore, Kochi and Hyderabad, to better serve the growing Indian leisure market. 

From July 2025, the airline introduced double daily services to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok, alongside four additional flights to Dubai. SriLankan is also adopting new strategies, including a differentiated product offering, to deliver value-for-money services in short-haul markets. 

SriLankan also implemented dynamic capacity management, ensuring aircraft deployment on short and medium-haul routes in line with demand. As a result of these initiatives, during the first five months of the 2025/26 financial year, the airline recorded a 10% increase in passenger revenue, 22% higher passenger numbers and a 10% growth in capacity.

It has also introduced a range of solutions to transform the customer experience, including wireless inflight entertainment, the AI-powered chatbot ‘Yaana’ for seamless personalised digital engagement and smart airport self-service solutions. These initiatives have contributed to a positive trend in customer satisfaction, according to the airline’s passenger survey.