SRILANKAN AIRLINES

Sustainability Overview

While Sri Lanka’s political and economic meltdown grabbed international attention in the last year, the national airline continued to make quiet progress towards a more sustainable planet.

In October 2022, SriLankan Airlines won the Best Aviation Sustainability Program Award, beating 118 other submissions at the SMBR Global Aviation Awards for its signature upcycle project, ‘Mathaka.’ Project Mathaka was SriLankan Airlines’ answer to minimising its contribution to landfill waste and ecological footprint by repurposing the airline’s scrap material into a variety of lifestyle products.

SriLankan partnered with House of Lonali, a Sri Lankan organisation that designs and manufactures upcycled lifestyle products, to develop the exclusive range of products under the ‘Mathaka’ brand such as travel bags, wallets and jewellery. The items, made entirely from disposed airline uniforms, aircraft interior components and other material, will eventually be introduced for sale onboard SriLankan Airlines’ flights and through the website and retail partners of House of Lonali.

Meet The Changemaker

Dhanushka De Silva, Former Environmental Affairs & Sustainability Manager at SriLankan Airlines is an aviation enthusiast with over 23 years of experience at Sri Lanka’s national flag carrier. He holds a specialisation in ‘aviation environment management’. For the airline, Dhanushka was engaged in various programmes and efforts such as Carbon Offset and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), Global Market Based Measures (GMBM), European Union Emission Trading Scheme (EU EST), SAF and United for Wildlife, the global initiative to crack down the global illegal wildlife trafficking. In October 2022, Dhanushka moved on from his position, but not before giving us some valuable time and insights into SriLankan's strategy.

Dhanushka was responsible for establishing the environment unit at SriLankan and developing the airline’s strategy on environment conservation while introducing green initiatives throughout the airline. “This led SriLankan to be recognised and praised by IATA as one of the most environmentally conscious airlines in the region”, he proudly says.

It’s worth noting that SriLankan was the first airline in Asia to introduce ‘Planet Friendly Flights’ back in 2009 and was named the second lowest carbon emitting airline in the Asia-Pacific in 2016 by Business Traveller. Since 2015, it has also had a voluntary carbon offsetting programme called Fly Green.

Opportunities And Challenges

For Dhanushka, the challenge and inspiration for his work lie in elevating the airline to be at par with other industry leaders. “Being sustainable is being creative, especially when you are short of funds and the environment is not on your organisation's priority list”, he says.

is highly valued and these factors push the industry towards more sustainable initiatives.

Unsurprisingly, Dhanushka says the industry should invest collectively in SAF development, as it will bring in the highest emission reductions. His reservations, like his counterparts at other airlines are the higher costs, due to which it becomes the hardest and most important resource to develop and acquire.

However, there are reasons to be hopeful. Dhanushka believes the greatest opportunity is the change in passenger behaviour, perspective, and expectation toward greener travel. He firmly believes people are becoming more responsible towards selecting sustainable services and are more inquisitive about service providers' track records. In addition, transparency

“I believe it is better if the industry could collect funds from global market-based mechanisms and channel them into more SAF development, so it will be affordable and equally available to everyone”, he explains. “This will be beneficial to all partners in the industry and especially to airlines to reduce their emissions and meet net zero targets.”

Source: SriLankan Airlines

Looking Ahead

Most recently, in November 2022, SriLankan announced a partnership with the Sri Lanka Forest Department to establish a new Mangrove Forestation site in the Negombo Lagoon that will span 3 hectares. As an initial step, the airline constructed an onsite mangrove nursery and staff volunteers planted 1000 mangrove propagules to kick start the project. The airline hopes to plant 5000 more in the coming months.

The airline says it is also championing blue carbon stock restoration, ocean and marine life conservation through research and knowledge sharing.

This follows Dhanushka’s general philosophy: “Try to do what you can do to make the world a better place,” he says.

“Every little initiative or strategy is worth it if you do it right and with the correct intention. Be transparent, communicate properly and effectively, explore all possibilities, be creative and encourage out-of-the-box ideas.”

However, Dhanushka is quick to warn that airlines must not waste their time with big ideas if they do not have proper funding. It is better to stick with initiatives that can be tackled and completed with tangible results.

His final word of advice is that airlines must learn to communicate better. “I believe communication is the key to being successful”, he says. “But it could work adversely if you are not being careful. Moreover, timing is important. If you do not put out your communique on time, it is not worth the effort.”

Progress, in aviation specifically, is likely to be slow and laboured. Due to its sheer nature — and no easy electric replacements such as in the automotive or rail industries — aviation will chart a complex path to decarbonisation.

Operating Officer