SriLankan Airlines to discontinue ‘involuntary’ Economy Class upgrade to Business Class

Sri Lanka’s national carrier SriLankan Airlines recently announced that it has decided to discontinue with its policy of ‘involuntary’ Economy Class upgrade to Business Class.

Nishantha Wickremasinghe, Chairman of SriLankan Airlines, in a statement said that the airline has decided to provide business class seats only to those passengers who have fully paid for their business class tickets. Besides, the business class seats will also be provided to the members of customer loyalty program, FlySmiLes who qualify for the upgrade.

This move is aimed at providing its business class passengers with the best value for money.

The SriLankan Airlines also said that it is revamping its business class cabins in its A330 and A340 wide-body aircraft. The upgraded business class cabins will be equipped with flat bed seating and sophisticated Audio-Video-On-Demand (AVOD) entertainment systems.

The airline also said that each A330 aircraft will be configured with 18 business class seats, while each A340 aircraft will have 24 seats in the business class by the end of 2011.