Singapore – SriLankan Airlines is going all out to win some of the business traffic on the Singapore-Colombo and Singapore-India sectors from Singapore Airlines (SIA).

Manager Singapore, Mr Johann Wijesinghe, is devoting 9.7 per cent of his total budget of S$1.5 million (US$887,574) this financial year to reach this segment. The money will be spent on a promotional campaign targeting corporate travellers and on direct marketing. The airline’s sales team will also be working with corporate travel agents.

“We are looking at this segment contributing seven per cent towards the total revenue from Singapore in the first year. This is a realistic target and eventually we hope it will increase to 20 per cent.”

Corporate business now contributes two per cent to total revenue earned from the Singapore office.

He said: “My biggest challenge is to break into the corporate segment which is right now not with us.

SIA is our biggest competitor purely because of its local strength plus the corporate agreements they already have. We are looking at a niche, not fighting the whole world with them.

“We will be giving business travellers more value for money by way of our frequent flyer programme plus a seamless business experience. With our future plans to add more flights to Colombo and India, and our codeshare with Emirates, our flight schedules will also offer them more flexibility and convenience.”

Already the airlines’ frequent flyer programme Skywards offered double miles to members travelling on business class from May 1 to June 10, applicable on most of its routes. Mr Wijesinghe also wants to lay the groundwork for the planned increase in frequencies from Singapore to Colombo and to enhance the growth into India.

Singapore is the airline’s best performing station in the Far East.

SriLankan now operates a daily flight from Singapore to Colombo. It will increase its services to 10 times a week by the end of the year but hopes to eventually operate twice-daily services.

Mr Wijesinghe said: “We need to expand the market and sustain the business. Right now it is not just us that is increasing frequencies and adding flights, but other airlines such as Cathay Pacific and SIA.”

To raise awareness of SriLankan, the airline has been taking out ads in the local newspapers, radio and on CNBC.

Mr Wijesinghe said the airline had been working with the Indian tourism board to promote itself as the optional carrier into India.

“We are the largest international carrier operating in India with 67 flights a week. The volume between Singapore and India is large with the traffic made up of business travellers, labourers/contract workers and overseas Indians going home for visits. With the open skies agreement, we want to operate more flights, about 80 to 90, not only to India’s major cities but also smaller ones that have tourist value.”