SriLankan - Our Own

SriLankan Airlines is finally our own, with the termination of the partnership with Emirates. There is no doubt that SriLankan benefited in some ways through this partnership, but no airline can be called a ‘national carrier’ if a foreign entity owns the majority of shares and management control.

SriLankan is now poised to enter a new era as a fully State-owned venture. It will be a true national carrier in every sense of the word.

This is exactly what President Mahinda Rajapaksa had in mind when he urged SriLankan employees to face the daunting challenges ahead and establish a strong and viable airline service, at the ceremony held to mark SriLankan’s transition.

This is indeed a challenge that SriLankan staffers have to surmount, given the negative outlook among the public regarding many State institutions as inefficient bodies.

Perhaps the long years under foreign control may have inculcated different work ethics among the employees and they will not fundamentally alter the sound operational patterns at SriLankan.

But this still remains a challenge as well as an opportunity to literally reach greater heights.

Air travel is booming around the world, despite increased security measures following 9/11. The fastest growth in air travel is naturally in the Asia Pacific region, where more people are becoming affluent.

This is where most of Boeing’s Dreamliners and Airbus’ A380s will be headed for in the coming years, as Asian airlines and airports expand.

Sri Lanka - and Sri Lankan - are ideally positioned to exploit this boom as Colombo is already a hub in South Asia. With a joint initiative by the Government and the inbound tourism sector, more tourists are headed towards Sri Lanka. This will also increase the demand for seats into Colombo.

The commissioning of the country’s second international airport in Weerawila in a few years will be a source of strength for SriLankan. It is highly likely that SriLankan will be given preferential status at this airport.

That also brings us to the issue of domestic flights, which have been stopped at the moment due to security concerns. We are hopeful that these services will resume in due course. Eventually, SriLankan should evolve a wider domestic network, perhaps in association with Mihin Lanka. The two airlines should complement each other nationally and internationally.

All Sri Lankans should make an effort to fly SriLankan whenever possible to express their affinity to an airline which can now proudly be called their own.

School buses

Transport Minister Dullas Alahapperuma deserves plaudits for initiating the Sisu Seriya programme which aims to increase the number of dedicated school buses to 1,000 by year end.

This is a laudable move, given that most parents now spend up to Rs.3,000 per month on so-called school vans to send their children to school. These school vans leave a lot to be desired. Most of them are rickety contraptions into which schoolchildren are crammed like sardines.

Although they have only around 15 seats, some vans carry nearly 30 children. There have been many cases where children have been abused sexually by some of the school van drivers. Some drivers are also not properly qualified and drive recklessly, endangering the lives of the children and other road users.

The Police began a special programme to identify ‘good’ school vans and even pasted stickers to distinguish them, but we do not know whether this programme still continues. If it has been stopped for some reason, it should be continued so that parents can rest assured their children are in good hands.

In fact, if there was a good school bus network countrywide, the vans would be left with little or no business. School buses, especially those belonging to the Sri Lanka Transport Board, are everything that the vans are not - ample seating, disciplined drivers, lower fees, etc.

Parents have no cause for anxiety if there children are conveyed to and from school by dedicated school buses.

The school bus concept is well entrenched in developed countries such as the USA, whose yellow school buses are world famous. Our officials should study the school bus systems in developed countries to get an idea as to how the efficiency of the local school bus network could be increased.

Private operators will also be involved in this Sisu Seriya exercise. It is our view that these private bus operators should be thoroughly ‘vetted’ before allowing them to run school services. The buses should be manned by disciplined, courteous and competent crew who could assure the safety of children during the two trips.

As the Minister has rightly pointed out, punctuality is vital when running a school bus service. Children have to be at school on time. Consistent delays will affect their education. Sisu Seriya operators, both public and private, should bear this in mind. A superb bus service for the children should be their avowed aim.