Sri Lankan pilot crisis results in huge losses

The simmering crisis within Sri Lankan Airlines surrounding the lowering of cut off marks to accommodate two extra cadet pilots has resulted in losses running ‘into millions’ of rupees for the country’s national carrier and continued disruption of flights.

Regular flights have been disrupted and delayed during the past three weeks as a result of pilots and instructors of the airline deciding to ‘work to the roster’.

Sri Lankan Airlines are currently understaffed for pilots and Instructors and therefore each pilot is requested to take up flights which they were not initially scheduled to take up.

Certain long distance flights have been delayed for long hours and flights have been grounded as a result causing heavy losses.

All these issues in UL started once the management was taken up by the government. So called political managers must be held responsible for the immense damages.

Suba Angathayak!

Can SriLankan continue to Fly?

From its very inception there have been serious concerns about the financial viability of the national carrier SriLankan Airlines. These become more intensified each time the need for fleet renewal comes-up. That situation has arisen again. It is important, therefore, to consider very carefully the options available.

The way forward should attach priority to ensuring that an undue burden is not cast on the already over-stretched budget and balance of payments of the country. The risks associated with Sri Lanka’s budget/balance of payments deficits and debt profile have already elevated.

Another narrow escape in Mattala

It is reported that UL114 flight of SriLankan Airlines has met with an accident It is reported that UL114 flight of SriLankan Airlines has met with an accident yesterday while on its way from Male to Katunayake Bandaranaike International Airport via Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport. The plane had collided with a flock of birds near Mattala while mid air, causing a crack in the cockpit windscreen. However the windscreen has not shattered, reports say. Following the accident the pilot has successfully landed the flight at the Katunayaka Airport within 10 minutes. However, if the flight remained mid air above 3000 feet for another 20 minutes, the windscreen could have shattered, risking the pilot being sucked out of the plane, Lanka News Web’ news website reports. The particular flight carried 40 passengers. Even though none of them have gotten down from Mattala airport, 04 passengers have boarded the flight to go to Katunayake airport. Earlier, a SriLankan Airways flight which was on a test flight to Mattala on March 04th also faced a similar incident, when it collided with a flock of birds. However, the flight escaped unharmed due to the efforts of pilot Thevinda Yahampath.while on its way from Male to Katunayake Bandaranaike International Airport via Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport.

OMG There were only 40 passengers on UL114 flight... I was wondering if you could find out what passenger loads are like of other flights flying in/out from HRI?

I am flying soon to Riyadh via HRI

Btw here are some update about SriLankan and Mihin Lanka as per 29-Mar-2013 Inventory Display;

SriLankan Airlines Summer 2013 Highlights

* SriLankan downgrading frequency of Chennai flights from 28 to 21 weekly. UL125/6 cancelled;
* SriLankan increasing Muscat flights from 5 to 6 weekly;
* Daily flights operating to London and additional 5 weekly flights may operate during the high season;

* Twice a week flights to Moscow (via DXB);
* Three weekly flights to Hong Kong (via BKK), Jeddah and Rome;
* Four weekly flights to Tokyo, Dammam, Frankfurt, Guangzhou (via BKK) and Paris;
* Five weekly flights to Beijing (via BKK#), Shanghai (via BKK#) and Riyadh (1x via HRI);
* Six weekly flights to Muscat;
* Daily flights to Abu Dhabi, Bengaluru, Delhi, Doha, Karachi, Kuwait, London, Mumbai and Trivandrum;
* Nine weekly flights to Dubai;
* Double Daily flights to Kochi, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Trichy,;
* 17 weekly flights are operating to Bangkok;
* 21 weekly flights are operating to Chennai;
* 36 weekly flights are operating to Male';

SriLankan Airlines flights out of Mattala Airport;

* UL113/114 operating twise a week CMB-MLE-HRI-CMB;
* UL119/120 operating twise a week CMB-HRI-MLE-CMB;
* UL273/274 operating once a week CMB-HRI-RUH-HRI-CMB;
* UL818/819 operating once a week CMB-HRI-BKK-PEK-BKK-HRI-CMB#;
* UL826/827 operating once a week CMB-BKK-PVG-BKK-HRI-CMB#;
* UL858/859 operating once a week CMB-HRI-BKK-PEK-BKK-CMB#;

Mihin Lanka Summer 2013 Highlights;

* Mihin Lanka flights to Delhi cancelled between May and Aug 2013;
* Daily flights to Jakarta;
* Three weekly flights to Madurai,
* Four weekly flight Trichy, Dubai and Sharjah;
* Five weekly flights to Dhaka;
* Six weekly flights to Bahrain;

Actually i must say CMB-HRI loards are so far good.

LankaNewsWeb is not a reliable source of information. It is owned by Mangala Samerwera. The "journalists" working for it are fiction writers who live in the UK. You only need to see what was written by this "news site" during the war period to know what kind of people they are.

Was this incident reported elsewhere, like in DailyMirror or other papers/sites? I'd rather confirm it from them.

Going to Male from CMB via HRI is ridiculous.

flydubai from 21MAY13 is increasing operations to Colombo, where overall service increases from 7 to 10 weekly.

Emirates to fly Mattala??

But those pictures are real! check this : http://www.insidelankanews.com/2013/...qjla-wekd.html

Fair enough mate. I just want it confirmed from a source other than LNW.

It could be true, there are quite a lot of wild life going on around the Mattala HRI. Unfortunately Bird strike is common issue which is still affecting other major airports like New York JFK, Chicago ORD, Calgary YYC etc ... However Sri Lanka Airport Authorities has to take action to prevent bird strikes happening at Mattala HRI for the safety reasons.

I have seen many times foxes delay the LHR's arrivals and departures.

40 Passengers in 287 seater A330 [4R-ALD] is a very low demand. SriLankan has to downgrade the capacity of the flight to A320.