SriLankan’s IAA enters 2013 IATA Premier Circle

The International Aviation Academy (IAA) of SriLankan Airlines has been conferred a prestigious recognition from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), as one of the World’s Top Ten Authorised Aviation Training Centres of its 2013 Premier Circle – an assessment made on the evaluation of 440 aviation training centres in 90 countries.

The centres have been evaluated on the rate of growth, expansion, student ratings, standard of facilities and the centres’ commitment to promote IATA training programmes.

Among the world’s Top Ten are Etihad Airways; Japan’s, Air Cargo Training Centre and Japan Aircargo Forwarders Association (JAFA); Kenya’s Air Travel & Related Studies Centre; the Qatar Aeronautical College; India’s, Trade Wings Institute of Management, Speedwings Academy for Aviation Services, Akbar Academy of Airline Studies, and India International Trade Centre.

‘This is a significant endorsement of SriLankan Airlines’ efforts to equip the next generation with the knowledge and competences necessary in the dynamic aviation industry and the run up to achieve the aviation hub status that we have committed to work towards, as the national carrier of Sri Lanka, said Mr Nishantha Wickremasinghe, Chairman, SriLankan Airlines.

Cathay Pacific serve Colombo flights via Singapore (4WK) and via Bangkok (3WK) so no nonstop schedule flights. SriLankan Airlines would have taken advantage over Cathay Pacific's onestop flights and we would have started nonstop flights to Hong Kong long time ago. It's terrible to see SriLankan operating two stop flights to China (stop in HRI and BKK) which shows SriLankan is still in old fashion. In my opinion, SriLankan Airlines should start nonstop flights Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai immediately instead of planning new destinations in South Africa, Australia etc.. If they fail to serve China with nonstop flights SriLankan will loose the market to other local airline (i.e. Orient based airlines are expanding the service in the Maldives)

well said banuthev...i'm eagerly waiting for UL non stop services to china and HKG, but as always they just say it in paper never put into action. plus i flew down to CMB last wed from DXB on UL226 A330 (4R-ALH), highly disappointed with UL. first of all incoming flight delayed by 6 HOURS..we weren't even informed until we checked in at DXB. on board the brand new interior plane, no reason was voiced for delay except for a mere apology, plus the CHINESE captain took off w/o switching on the ac and switched it on after take off plus after repeated complaints from pax and crew. staff looked highly disinterested, plus meals were served w/o any menu cards, (honestly do you ever place your order at even a fast food chain blindly). beyond this food wasn't so great either. shocked and stunned at the service standards of UL which has gone down hill.

4R-ALA - YES your are rite i did UL 423 HKG-CMB 7/4 Its more like a No frill airlines nothing much you get TV but it doesnt work you get Radio but only Left side you can listen........

that's what...@Azamh....honestly if UL wants to get into top category airlines, they really should get brains before new a/c. it hurts me to see our national airline in this way, if we want to surpass 9W and even Air Astana, UL should work tirelessly. no wonder air astana is rated central asia no 1 airline for 2013 by world travel awards.

ah, the AC is off to save on climbing power / fuel

BTW, on another UL flight, the CC were busy chatting with each other .. ah .. come on ..

I asked about this incident again, basically what has happened is he has tried to make a landing using autopilot. The system on the ground that guides the aircraft in had either not been on or was miscalibrated, the plane hit the tarmac and bounced, and instead of doing a go around which is SOP, pilot tried to land and hit the tail. No one can reliably say its a write off. An UL engineer said its a write off and a captain said its not. Said captain is pretty senior and probably doesnt want the information of a write off to come out if it is so. Either way, something has happened to the plane and UL has not put out a statement. Its their fault for not coming clean and letting this 'misinformation' circulate.

And to the point Kflyer makes on hiding information, this is Sri Lanka, the authorities try to hide information ALL the time. All we are left with is reports from individuals who do not want to be named due to fear of reprucussions.

Someone with access to flight databases can check and see if the plane has undertaken any recent flights. Its been over 3 weeks now so if there was no incident it should be flying again.

On a side note, I was told UL requires its captains to do an autopilot landing once every certain period of time, I cannot remember the exact time period but it might be 3 months. I was also told, more worryingly, that they sometimes dont even inform ground control they are doing an auto pilot landing which is SOP at any international airline. This is first hand info from UL pilots. Shocking to say the least.

Aviation Herald reporting 4R-ADA and it looks like Simon picked it from French BEA weekly report which is reporting this incident for some reason.

SriLankan firms A350 order

CX still fly here via BKK, theres also Air China to Chengdu and China Southern to Urumqi.

So, if it was me .. I would make the pilot do the test flight, post rectification

Well .. in reality, maybe they covered it from the media, but can't cover it from the other safety boards / Airbus / Insurers .. or if they do, then wait for SL to get downgraded / blacklisted ..

You can hide from media, but not from the people whom it matters ..

Ah, wait, here it is ..

http://avherald.com/h?article=465c7ef4&opt=0 (as quoted by CalgaryLankan .. )

A thread in pprune suggests a 3 month repair. Either way they will not be able to keep this under the lid when the insurers from the leasing agency get involved. I wonder what spin our residential 'social media expert' will give now

Might turn out to be cheaper to scrap her for spares though.

Good news! Any idea which A333 version SriLankan planning to get? i.e 235t, 240t? If they are getting A333 235t version they can't use it for over 10hr flights. Do you know the seat config for their new A333s and A359s? I will be flying Toulouse to take pictures of UL's new birds.

@Banuthev I assume it has to be the 242t version, not privy to the seating config though. Do you know what the 330 MSN #s would be?

So my original information of it being a tail strike was correct.

Where is Kflyer? Seriously is he employed by UL/the Government to spread misinformation?