When Skywings Travel gathers together trade partners and loyal customers for an event it is planning to celebrate its 30th anniversary, none will be more proud than the founder Balasubramaniam Pathmabaskaran. He had moved from Sri Lanka to London in 1975 ahead of the brutal civil war that tore his homeland apart between 1983 and 2009. After first gaining experience as a travel agent, he decided to set up his own agency in 1994, and many of his first customers were fellow Sri Lankans, returning home to visit friends and family.
Pathmabaskaran continued at the helm of the business until retiring in 2017, when Sai Pathmanathan took over as manging director, supported by co-director Dawn Auwardt Mugunthan and Aruna Jayathilake, head of sales. From those early days, focusing on flights to Sri Lanka, the business has diversified. There’s now more focus on package holidays and tailor-made tours, thanks to strong relationships with ground handlers in Sri Lanka, India, the Maldives and the Far East, and Bangkok is the top destination.
“It has been a rollercoaster,” says Jayathilake. “We’ve weathered a series of external factors that have influenced our business, from bomb blasts in Sri Lanka to the pandemic. But we’ve always held our nerve and bounced back strongly.”
Skywings has kept its high street agency in Tooting, ostensibly serving those older customers who prefer the personal touch. But to attract more digitally savvy generations, the business has made huge investment in technology over the years, feeding into Skyscanner and Google Flights, with ongoing efforts to finalise integration into Kayak.
“Some may argue that meta search engines pose a threat to traditional high street agencies. We hold a different perspective, that embracing meta search is the way forward in the evolving travel landscape.”
CUSTOMER SERVICE
Jayathilake admits it’s not easy to compete with airlines in the e-commerce space, but says that even if customers are attracted by an airline’s lower direct fare, “they usually come back to us, because it’s a nightmare to try and speak to an airline on the phone.”
The business has also expanded with the addition of call centres, first in New Delhi in 2019, and then Colombo, in 2022, which increased its global workforce to 50. The development means phones can be manned seven days a week. “We’ve extended our reach and provide seamless service to clients worldwide,” Jayathilake adds.
