They parked in remote base till Dep.time ,some aircrafts were towed to a aerobridge 01 hour before Dep. time. till then other aircraft can use the Bridges ..no use of parked in bridge without using it..only the fee of using the bridge will increase..

I'm not entirely sure all I know that LY are planning to go to CMB after the refusal to fly to Male...

OK. Do we have sufficient passenger demand between TLV and CMB ? I remember LY flew cargo flights on HKG>CMB>TLV few years ago.

Tourism from Israel to Sri Lanka is not at it's peak but it's rising and that's why RJ (Royal Jordanian) took advantage of it because passengers could just jump on an RJ connecting flight TLV-AMM-CMB and EL AL doesn't seem to clock on as half the demand is in the Maldives and being a Muslim country it won't allow EL AL. Turkish will take advantage of this as passengers have cheap options to go TLV-IST-CMB.

For the time being EL AL is trying to recover from serious debt and are focusing on a 6 million USD upgrade on their 767-300's after retiring their 757 fleet with the addition of purchasing 8 new 737-900's so they're just sorting themselves out before making huge steps.

Israel has just signed an Open Skies agreement so in reality any airline can fly whenever they like to TLV, ETH, VDA

According to the Turkish aviation forum sources –

Turkish Airlines expected to launch daily flights to Sri Lanka.

Istanbul – Colombo – Male – Istanbul = Daily

Official discussions to establish direct air-links between Turkey & Sri Lanka are currently on-going at higher levels.

Turkish Airlines - Coming Soon to Sri Lanka

If UL want to match and enhance (a bit) capacity = A330-300. If they want to enhance capacity + more range = B777-300ER. Depends on the requirements and their ability to fill the seats, the -300ER is the best plane available for this purpose. But for around 290 seats/2 class and good range, the 333 is a very strong contender. A 77W with a 2 class config (since UL does not offer a first class product) can easily seat upto 350 pax or more, depending on 9 or 10 abreast in Y, and offer a range of upto 14000 km so CMB-US east coast should be possible

Hi guys,

Any idea on the number of seats in MJ flight to Madurai?

Some sites show that it is 220, while in media reports it gives 212 and in wiki, it shows as 210 (A321).

The MJ flight has been doing good according to trip reports we receiving from friends.

The route is picking up nicely.

Thanks in advance.

To mark the event, ICN-CMB-MLE route has now been officialy announced on it's KE website. Glad to see "Colombo" listed on one of the KE's Flight Schedule drop down menu. Can't wait for Summer 2013 !! when three of the foreign airlines (BA, KE, TK) are planning for Colombo launch.

I think 4R-MRC has 210 Seats and 4R-MRD has 212 Seats. Is MJ the only LCC Airline that operate A321 ?

was in Odyssey

November 29, 2012
Etihad Airways Increases Flights To India And Sri Lanka

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Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, is substantially increasing and upgrading flights to key cities in the Indian subcontinent.

Starting from January 1, 2013 flights to the southern Indian city of Kozhikode will more than double, increasing from three to seven a week.

The Sri Lankan capital of Colombo will also be serviced by daily flights when services increase from four to seven per week starting from January 2, 2013.

These increases will coincide with the re-introduction of the Pearl Business class product on both routes to cater for the growing business and corporate demand and high-end leisure traffic.

The additional services will be operated by Airbus A320 aircraft fitted with 16 Pearl Business Class seats and will almost double capacity on both routes.

They will also improve the number of connections over the airline's Abu Dhabi hub to over 370 connections a week for Kozhikode (representing an increase of 240 per cent) and 300 connections a week for Colombo (representing an increase of 170 per cent).

Additional key Etihad destinations, including Jeddah, Johannesburg, Lagos, Milan and Toronto, will be connected to Kozhikode while Geneva, Munich and Astana will be connected to Colombo.

James Hogan, Etihad Airways' President and Chief Executive Officer, said: "India and Sri Lanka are important destinations for us due to strong local demand and growing traffic beyond Abu Dhabi to many key destinations across our global network.

"Kozhikode and Colombo are fast growing cities that serve as major business and trade hubs with many of their inhabitants working in the Gulf region. We are confident that these additional flights will be immensely beneficial to them and will offer them more options to visit their families and relatives."

Since the start of flights to Kozhikode in 2008, Etihad Airways has carried more than 180,000 passengers. The Colombo services were re-launched in January 2010 and have carried more than 200,000 passengers to date.

In addition to Kozhikode, the airline offers 56 flights per week connecting Abu Dhabi directly to eight key cities in India, namely Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Mumbai, New Delhi, Thiruvananthapuram and most recently, Ahmedabad.

etihad.com

MH also increasing CMB flights from Daily to 10 weekly effective 1 Apr 2013 onboard B737-800. It's glad to see MH becomes official Oneworld partner from Feb 2013 is attracting the future Oneworld co-location CMB.

Good move , change of equipment or same 737-800 ??

MH will be using B737-800 for all CMB Flights. MH179 operates Daily lands in CMB at 23:55 and departs from CMB at 00:55. Additional 3 flights are eventually coming to CMB during the day time hours lands in CMB at 12:00 and departs from CMB at 13:00. Additional 3 flights are operating on Mon, Thu and Sat using MH184/5.

As per Turkish Airlines Internal Poster, Colombo starting on 15.2.2013 - http://www.flickr.com/photos/51091426@N07/8269394771/

saw 4R-MRB parked outside the B747 hanger with winglets painted red still in MJ livery on 14 Dec....any update??