SRILANKAN AIRLINES SECONDS BARRY BROWN TO ASIA-PACIFIC ROLE

SriLankan Airlines announced today the secondment of Mr Barry Brown to the new role of Regional Manager Asia Pacific, based in the carrier's home city of Colombo.

Mr Brown is currently General Manager Australia and New Zealand for the airline, based in Sydney.

In his seconded role, Mr Brown will manage and oversee future development of SriLankan's operations throughout the Asia Pacific region, stretching from India and Japan.

The airline operates services between Colombo and Tokyo, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Jakarta, as well as five Indian destinations - Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Tiruchirapally and Trivandrum.

Mr Brown will also retain responsibility for sales operations in a range of other off-line locations throughout the region, including SriLankan's continuing sales operation in Australia and New Zealand, where the carrier is represented by World Aviation Systems.

Since joining SriLankan Airlines early in 2000, Mr Brown has become instrumental in building market awareness of Sri Lanka and the Maldives as new holiday destinations for Australasian travellers.

At the peak of its operations to Sydney, SriLankan operated four weekly Airbus A340 services nonstop to Colombo, with onward connections to the Maldives, India, Middle East and Europe.

In July this year, SriLankan was forced to restructure its operations significantly following an early morning terrorist attack at Colombo Airport, which destroyed four of the airline's 12 aircraft.

This led to a suspension of services to a number of cities, including Sydney, which is now served by partner carriers connecting in Singapore to SriLankan's own flights. Services were reduced on several other routes.

SriLankan now operates a fleet of eight Airbus airliners - three A340s, four A330s and one A320 - and offers services to 26 destinations in 20 countries.

Mr Brown takes up his new role in Colombo from 4 December.