Yes, you are absolutely correct. Sri Lanka should attract Qantas in it's radar. We are geographically fitting well as a best transit-point for Qantas passengers who would like to reach destinations in South Asia and Gulf. But still SriLankan has to expand their network regionally to make that happen.

Budget Carrier – In Focus

6E – MJ

IndiGo

Founded – 2006

Fleet size – 63

Destinations – 33

Profit - US$118.3 million



Mihin Lanka

Founded – 2006

Fleet size – 3

Destinations – 11

Profit - ????



TG- MJ

Thai Smile

Founded – 2011

Fleet size – 5

Destinations – 6

Profit - 5 Million baht (baht - the currency of Thailand)

According to an official at Thai Airways International, Thai Smile is planned to begin showing an annual profit of about five million baht within two years of the start of operations.



Mihin Lanka

Founded – 2006

Fleet size – 3

Destinations – 11

Profit - ????

ALH now in service with 18 flat j class and 252 ey

SriLankan Airlines becomes the first airline group in South Asia to adopt Amadeus’ Altéa IT suite

SriLankan Airlines, the national carrier of Sri Lanka, and the Amadeus IT Group, a leading technology partner for the global travel industry, today announce a landmark agreement that will see the airline migrate to Amadeus’ full Altéa suite by 2014.

The deal, which is the first of its kind for Amadeus in the Indian subcontinent, will enable SriLankan Airlines to adopt Amadeus’ next generation IT suite in order to manage its mission-critical reservations, ticketing, inventory and departure control processes.

Under the terms of the agreement the two companies will work in close co-operation to begin the migration process from SriLankan’s existing passenger service system to Altéa, with the first phase of the migration, covering the reservations, inventory and ticketing modules, scheduled to be completed this year. Migration to the Altéa departure control system module is planned to commence in the first half of 2014.

Nishantha Wickremasinhe, Chairman SriLankan Airlines said : “We consider this a significant move in our future plans to place SriLankan Airlines in an advantageous position and becoming the first airline to adopt the Altéa Suite in the Indian subcontinent displays our commitment to be on par with the technological developments that are critical for efficiency in today’s aviation industry.”

Kaplia Chandrasena, Director/Chief Executive Officer, SriLankan Airlines commented: “Implementing Amadeus’ Altéa suite is crucial to the evolution and expansion of SriLankan Airlines and our inclusion within the oneworld global alliance. The Altéa suite will truly modernise our IT processes, enhancing our service provision, whilst enabling us to become a more ‘customer-centric’ carrier than ever before.This agreement is highly significant for our employees, passengers and partners.”

Julia Sattel, SVP Airline IT, Amadeus IT Group commented: “This is a key strategic win for Amadeus as we continue to extend our global reach. This agreement with SriLankan is also important for us as it is the first Amadeus customer for Altéa from the Indian subcontinent, something that we are extremely proud of. We very much look forward to working in partnership with SriLankan as the migration process begins in earnest this year.”

Amadeus’ Altéa suite is used by over 120 airlines globally.

Thanks for the update Sakith, does this mean all 330's apart from ALG have the new J class cabins? Also whats the status of the Y seats in these aircraft? Some have new seats some old?

Also out of the 340's, is ADF the only one with the new cabins?

SriLankan Airlines becomes the first airline group in South Asia to adopt Amadeus’ Altéa IT suite

SriLankan to replace old aircraft, says CEO

SriLankan Airlines will look at replacing some of its ageing long range aircraft with a modern fleet, the carrier’s Chief Executive Officer Kapila Chandrasena said on Thursday.

Addressing the media to announce a partnership with the Amadeus Altea IT suite, adding new and improved technology to provide seamless service throughout its network, the CEO explained that they would be taking a decision on replacing their fleet in the future.

He pointed out that within the next two to three months they would be deciding on the type of aircraft that would suit them to upgrade their fleet with a new set of aircraft.

This is part of the airline’s Phase II plan to upgrade its fleet which was increased between 2011and 2012 from 14 – 21, he said.

The carrier is also eyeing an increase in the number of frequencies to India and the Asia Pacific region while also looking at new destinations in Asia this year, Mr. Chandrasena explained.

SriLankan Airlines S13 London Heathrow Operation Changes

SriLankan Airlines from 28JUN13 to 20SEP13 is increasing Colombo – London Heathrow operation, where overall operation increases up to 12 weekly for peak summer season. Planned schedule as follows.

UL505 CMB0200 – 0900LHR EQV 67
UL505 CMB0625 – 1325LHR EQV 124
UL503 CMB1305 – 1905LHR 332 D

UL506 LHR1040 – 0155+1CMB 332 7
UL506 LHR1105 – 0220+1CMB 343 6
UL506 LHR1440 – 0555+1CMB 343 2
UL506 LHR1445 – 0600+1CMB 332 4
UL506 LHR1700 – 0815+1CMB 332 1
UL504 LHR2035 – 1250+1CMB 332 D

Mattala gets priority over BIA

The Government will adopt an open skies policy allowing international carriers to operate freely at the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport, Aviation Minister Priyankara Jayaratne said yesterday.

Open skies policy is a concept where free market conditions are created for commercial aviation. It provides access to international carriers to operate freely without restrictions.

“This is a move to attract more international traffic and the new policy will be announced next week,” he said. The minister said the policy would not apply to the Bandaranaike International Airport at Katunayake.

The minister said the open skies policy would create a free market environment for the airline industry. Earlier, the Government had planned to have an open skies policy only for a limited period but now it had decided to extend it for an unlimited period.

He said that among other concessions at Mattala would be a 50 per cent discount on ground handling charges for five years.

He said talks were held with various international airlines including Emirates, Qatar Airways, Ettihad, Air Arabia, Sichuan Airlines of China and the Korean Airlines and they had agreed to fly to Mattala. Talks with other airlines were continuing.

Mr. Jayaratne said a 10-acre land has been allocated to Air Arabia for the construction of a 400 room hotel while a local company had also been allocated land for a hotel project.

The first phase of the new 800-acre airport constructed by China Harbour Engineering Company cost US$ 209 million (Rs 26.7 billion).

Meanwhilem Civil Aviation Director General H.M.C. Nimalasiri has gazetted the official commissioning of Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport for domestic and international air transport services.

AdF is the only 340 with new config.. about this altea system its very usrrfriendly than SITA we use now. QR.SV.SQ also use this altea system.. i heard we are gonna change from end of august..

Sri Lanka must join some countries in further liberalising its air space by signing Bilateral Air Service Agreements under the International Air Transport Association's (IATA) Multilateral Statement of Policy Principles.

The signing countries include Chile, Malaysia, Panama, Singapore, Switzerland, the UAE, the US and the European Commission, representing about 60 per cent of global aviation.

IATA commissioned InterVISTAS to study the potential impact of liberalisation of markets including Australia, Brazil, India, Mauritius, Morocco, Peru, Turkey, Uruguay and Vietnam. Which says liberalisation of both market access and ownership and control would increase annual GDP of economies by 0.86 per cent to US$67.6 billion.

More Info - http://www.dfld.de/Presse/PMitt/2009/091116c1.pdf

So that means UL will place an order for new WB aircraft this year and deliveries starting from end of 2014. Let's wait for next three months to findout what WB type UL going to order? Any news from Insiders ?

Good move UL has to keep the strong presence in South Asia + the Maldives, where Oneworld is expecting more connections via CMB. UL flies almost 6 flights a day to the Maldives that will be biggest boost for Oneworld when UL join them. UL can launch new destinations like Mangalore, Kozhikode (re), Coimbatore (re), Goa (re) ... and add more flights to Bengaluru, Trivandrum, Kochi ...

You will see some European charters, Gulf LCCs, QR ... initially operating to HRI.

The CEO also gave the following hint:



IMHO a split order between the A333 and 773ER could be good, with 773ER deliveries commencing later. IMHO they should also replace some of their older A320 fleet which dont yet have AVOD facilities (maybe with A320NEOs later).

Yes, they should start serving these destinations. Maybe UL should add Pune, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Kolkata and leave the rest of the other Tier 2's to Mihin with its lower cost structure. Im guessing Mihin will join as a Oneworld affliate, like Dragonair.

Yep there were some days we sent 343 to DeL but loars wre the same and return too