If Peter Hill, Chief Executive Officer of SriLankan Airlines ever gets tired of the transport game (doubtful with everything else going on in Sri Lanka, he could ever get bored) the career aviation man who among other things was part of the team present during the creation of Emirates Airline, might consider opening up a London style pub in Colombo.
     He did about the same thing the last time he departed an airline assignment, about a decade ago, traveling back to London and setting up shop as owner operator of a grand and historic pub called The Constitution on Regents Canal.
     In 1996, after 18 years in Dubai, Hill returned to London and bought the pub.
     “The Constitution is a great place.
     “I purchased it with a partner (who still operates the pub having bought out Mr. Hill’s shares) and actually lived upstairs above the business for two years.”
     But when Emirates acquired 40% of Sri Lankan (EK now holds 43%) and signed a decade-long management contract to operate the carrier, a call from EK HQ came into London.
     The lifetime airline guy knew his days of pulling pints were numbered.
     “It was a great experience, but in the end I got a bit bored with the pub.
     “Looking back, that time was fun and a needed change after years of always being on the road and living out of a suitcase much of the time.”
     We are sitting in the executive offices atop the Colombo Sri Lanka World Trade Center.
     Outside and way down below, the hustle of the city pulses along, but here it is quiet in tones of rich wood and high back chairs.
     I tell Peter Hill that like my U.S. President whose Secret Service detail always has one—he too has a “body double” lurking about.
     He says right away “Oh yes . . Barry,” (Barry Brown, Chief Commercial Officer) and after a moment it comes to him and he laughs out loud.
     I decide I like this guy right away, but am not sure if it is his pub manners, which in any case are just great.
     Right now in his eighth year as CEO at SriLankan, Peter Hill has literally lifted that carrier up from the ashes having survived all manner of challenge, including a terrorist attack in 2001 that destroyed half of the fleet.
     He recalls being awakened at 4:20 a.m. one July night in 2001 and for a moment not believing what he was hearing.
     “It was like being suspended between sleep and being awake; as in a strange yet very real dreamlike state.
     “One of my duty managers called screaming that the airport was under attack.
     “Rebels have occupied the airport and they’re blowing up our aircraft,” he said.
     “Through the phone line I could hear the explosions and gun fire.”
     A Tamil Tiger suicide squad had gained access to the hardstand and went about blowing up three SriLankan Airlines Airbuses while badly damaging three others.
     In an instant Peter Hill learned that half the fleet had gone up in flames.
     But from that devastation something unexpected happened.
     In an atmosphere of declining business and continued losses for the airline had come this horrific attack followed by an insurance settlement of about USD$350 million.
     As he sat looking at the check on his desk inside the airline’s office in Colombo’s World Trade Center, a new beginning was formed.
     Here was this airline in the immediate aftermath of terror attacks with its main revenue base of tourists badly eroded.
     “What the hell do we do next?” Peter Hill thought.
     Turns out the check offered some flexibility toward a new beginning that in a strange twist of fate might not have been available.
     Peter Hill, it turns out given the chance, had a better idea.
     While continuing to discover new and better ways to build the airline as an engine to draw world tourism to beautiful Sri Lanka, he would also take advantage of the island nation’s unique position in relation to India and the global trade lanes.
     “Our vision is to create Sri Lanka as the hub in South Asia,” he said.
     Non cost-effective schedules were withdrawn and new routes that offered prospects of growth and profitability were, and still are, being initiated.
     Thus began the transformation of SriLankan Airlines from a destination carrier into a network operator.
     Has the strategy worked?
     Given the high costs of fuel and security that continue to exert immense downward pressure on yields almost everywhere, SriLankan Airlines right now, as indication, is the biggest foreign carrier operating in India with nine destinations and a tenth to be added in the Winter schedule.
     “We are developing business traffic, to maximize short-haul tourist travel from the Indian subcontinent to Sri Lanka.
     Relative to India, the cost of holidays in Sri Lanka are considerably less expensive, and with most flights from India taking no more than 90 minutes to reach Sri Lanka, the opportunities presented are enormous.
     Things continued to build with expanded cooperations with codeshare operator Emirates and markets, that while not booming were at least on a solid growth curve.
     Then came the Tsunami of December 2004.
     Although the Tsunami affected only one small part of the island (Kalutara Beach was especially hard hit) and Sri Lanka is in fact a multi-destination country with beaches, the hill country, the tea country, the wildlife parks, and many World heritage sites, the region’s travel industry took a tremendous hit.
     Peter Hill radically revamped SriLankan’s schedule, “answering the call to fly daily services to most of the destinations we serve.”
     “The Tsunami was devastating for tourism in the Asian region so as part of the Bounce Back Sri Lanka Program we added many new services whilst concentrating on our core markets.”
     Today with growing schedules, SriLankan now features a daily return service from Colombo to New York’s JFK Airport begun on March 27th of 2005 that opened up a whole new market for the airline, the country and neighboring South Asian communities.
     “Partnering with Emirates via codeshare services, the flights are also producing excellent results for our growing air cargo product.”
     Also in the mix is a growing list of European destinations including Frankfurt, Munich and Düsseldorf as well as Paris and Zurich operated by both SriLankan Airlines and codeshare partner Emirates.
     “Last summer we launched A330 daily service to Abu Dhabi with services continuing to Doha and Bahrain.”
     Saudi Arabia and Kuwait also saw services added. Also in mix are frequencies to South East Asia and China.
     The SriLankan and Emirates codeshare flights to Dubai now total 28 services per week from Colombo.
     Pivotal to SriLankan’s growing success is its belief that the government should try to attract ‘quality’ carriers back to Sri Lanka.
     Despite some past and current social unrest, by most estimates, the peace process will continue and Sri Lanka is being ‘re-discovered’ by higher spending tourists, which in turn is improving yields.
     As this is written, Mr. Hill may have gotten something of his wish for more airlines as the Sri Lankan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) just announced granting permission for three new carriers to join international aviation in July.
     Three new airlines Expo Aviation, Holiday Airlines and Deccan Aviation have been granted permission by CAA to initially serve destinations in India.
     Born in Somerset and brought up in London, Peter Hill joined British Airways as a commercial trainee at 17.
     He did a stint in Uganda before joining Gulf Air in Bahrain.
     After moving to Dubai, Mr. Hill joined Emirates Airlines with responsible for all of Emirates’ commercial operations east of Dubai, including Australia, Hong Kong, India and Sri Lanka.
     Looking ahead Mr. Hill notes that right now having faced down crises after crises he has firmly put his roots in paradise while taking a bride just last year.
     “Whatever the future holds, my life will be centered in Sri Lanka.
     “We are just working with a newly elected regime here as our management contract comes up for renewal in two years.”
     Yet to be decided are important decisions as to how SriLankan will continue upon its courageous and bold path into the future.
     “Our plan calls for new equipment, more destinations and marketing initiatives plus the need to develop even further the culture for commercial aviation in Sri Lanka by emphasizing training and education here.
     “Despite operating in a difficult economic and very competitive climate, SriLankan has proved, without doubt, that a strongly managed airline with innovative and visionary ideas can succeed whatever the odds.”
(Geoffrey Arend)