There's no shortage of corruption in my country.

The difference is that where I live there are laws, press freedom (country where I live is in joint first place in the global rankings) and a working legal system - there is accountability. Companies are fined and people go to prison.

Yes it is a good idea. I remember hearing sometime back that UL had 5th freedom rights between LHR and YVR. What happened to this? Why didnt it get off the ground. YVR is a better bet compared to JFK or EWR for that matter. At the moment addition to US registered airlines (AA,UA,DL) and UK Registered Airlines (BA, VS), even KU and AI are in this market. YVR is a better bet...

Aog

4R ADB IS AOG @ LHR sine last night. Was supposed to operate UL 504.

@ejanson65


This is about revenue @ Mattala Airport

I am not sure if you could understand this video clip from Sri Lankan Parliament.



time 3.09...Minister reply for the oral question raised in the parliment; for the month of May Flydubai paid SLR 16,185...approx USD 135

@Speedbird

Sorry - I only speak a few words of Sinhala.

The problem with the whole mess surrounding HRI is that there are so many contradictory claims that it is impossible to know what is correct or not.

What is needed is complete transparency - an independent audit/investigation is the only way to achieve this imho.

Important questions that need to be answered:-

Process surrounding award of contracts for building the airport.
Actual costs including overruns.
Financial aspects - in simple terms "follow the money".
Deals made to attract business to the airport.
Viability of the Business Plan (assuming there is one).
Long term liabilities (to the people of Sri Lanka).

The last one is important as it will detail the costs of keeping this airport operating and how much (public) money will be needed. This will show whether this is a viable project or whether it needs to be shut down.

If any irregularities show up then the second part of the process is accountability

The same thing needs to be done at UL and Mihin imho.

Fault grounds SriLankan flight
admin
By admin January 3, 2015 17:35

SrilankanSriLankan Airlines today said that its Colombo bound flight from London, UL 504 of January 1, 2015 was grounded due to a technical fault which was identified whilst the aircraft was on the ground.

Deepal V. Perera, Manager Media Development (Corporate Communications), in a statement said that the passengers were accommodated at a hotel in London as it was expected that the rectification work could not be completed overnight due to LHR airport mandatory closure for night curfew. SriLankan staff were at hand throughout with the passengers and assisted.

He said that regrettably on 2nd January once the passengers had been boarded and prior to take off a technical fault was once again detected, at which point it was decided to ground the aircraft for further tests and inspection by aircraft engineers. This is in accordance with SriLankan Airlines’ policy of ensuring that highest priority is given for the overall safety of its passengers and crew at all times.

“SriLankan’s technical team in London is doing its utmost to rectify the situation in order to expedite travel. Meanwhile the SriLankan staff have continued to be at hand and provided necessary accommodation and facilities to the passengers. The majority of the passengers have been rebooked on alternate flights to facilitate their travel,” he said.

Perera said the Airline extends a sincere apology to all its passengers for the inconvenience caused due to this delay. (Colombo Gazette)

According to SriLankan's twitter feed, passengers have been complaining of a two-day delay. The airline says it's a "technical fault". What's the aircraft experiencing this technical fault and what sort of fault is it?

Its 4R-ADB


4R-ADA took the passengers to CMB

Does anyone know the fault?

Dramatic rise in bird strikes at MRIA




As many as 15 bird strikes were recorded at the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) in 2014, four times more than the previous year, statistics from the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CAASL) show.

A bird strike is a collision between a bird and an aircraft that can sometimes have disastrous consequences. The number of bird strikes at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) in 2014 remained the same as the previous year, at 30.

In 2013, there were only three bird strikes at MRIA. The data recorded last year, therefore, points to a 400 percent increase. This is significant due to the low frequency of flights at that airport. Only SriLankan, Fly Dubai, Mihin Lanka and Rotana Jet use the facility and it receives a fraction of the traffic that BIA does. Thus, the ratio of strikes when compared with the number of flights is high.

According to CAASL, there were 1,525 aircraft movements at MRIA in 2013. Last year, there were 2,289 flights. The number of bird strikes amounts to one every 152.6 flights.

When MRIA was built, it had been widely predicted that there would be a large number of bird strikes due to its rural location and abundance of fauna. Special action is often taken to clear the runways of wildlife, such as deploying vehicles with sirens.

But data uploaded on the CAASL website this week shows that the majority of bird strikes (11) occurred on the ground while two were at 100 feet, one at 500 feet and one at 10,000 feet. Two of them involved peacocks. Three involved sparrows but the rest are not known.

A total of eight accidents occurred in December and four in October. All of them took place during daylight hours. At BIA, a majority of strikes occurred in January, March and April.

The CAASL is likely to treat this rise in bird strikes seriously. In its 2013 annual report, the regulator has already said that the frequency of bird strikes at BIA required immediate attention.

“Compared to bird strikes reported at BIA in 2012, which is 16 (strike rate 0.0003) in total, the bird strikes at BIA in 2013 shows an 88% increase representing 1 bird strike for every 1,667 flights which requires immediate attention of the airport operator,” CAASL said in that report.

The ratio at Mattala is now much higher and may require the airport operator to take urgent measures to avoid a further worsening of the situation.

SriLankan, Petroleum Corp. indulge in blame game for their losses
By Namini Wijedasa
Airline complains of soaring fuel prices, CPC says its supplies are at ‘extraordinarily concessionary rates’
View(s):

SriLankan Airlines and the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC), two of the State’s largest loss-making ventures, have blamed each other for their financial woes in official documents seen by the Sunday Times.

The provision of fuel to SriLankan and Mihin Lanka at “extraordinarily concessionary rates” seriously eroded the finances of the CPC in 2011-2012, a new report on the Corporation by the Auditor General H.A.S Samaraweera states. But the annual reports of SriLankan Airlines for the corresponding periods claim that one of the main reasons for its continuing losses is soaring fuel prices.

Senior aviation authorities said even they cannot explain this discrepancy. “It is a puzzle to us,” one admitted, requesting anonymity. “CPC officials have repeatedly said SriLankan owes big amounts to them for fuel that they are supplying at very low rates. But when they are not in the presence of CPC representatives, SriLankan blames its losses on high fuel prices.”

Meanwhile, SriLankan Airlines has now negotiated with CPC to buy fuel even more cheaply. These new prices, which are reflective of the current slide in international rates, came into effect in November 2014. It was not immediately clear how this facility would affect the Corporation’s finances.

A senior SriLankan Airlines source claimed it was “not true to say SriLankan is getting fuel at especially low prices”. “In this region, the only other country that sells such expensive fuel is Maldives,” he said. “SriLankan and Mihin, as Government airlines based in Colombo, get 60 percent of our fuel locally. We get a price advantage only when our aircraft go out.”

The Sunday Times obtained a copy of the Auditor General’s newest report on CPC financial statements for the year ending December 31, 2012. These were sent to the Auditor General in March 2014, well past the stipulated submission deadline.

Mr. Samaraweera’s response is dated September last year. It provides insight into a litany of management bungling, inefficiencies and administrative decisions that have caused the CPC to record a total loss of more than Rs. 97 billion in just the year under review.

This report reveals that prices granted to SriLankan and Mihin were much lower than those granted to other contract customers, the Auditor General observes. As a result, the CPC made losses of Rs. 456.6 million (2012) and Rs. 669.8 million (2011) on fuel.

More worryingly, the outstanding dues of the two companies to CPC ballooned during the same period. “Despite these institutions being given concessionary rates, the situation with settling the outstanding fuel bill was very weak,” the Auditor General observes. “Because of this, the outstanding balance exceeded approved credit limits.”

At the end of 2012, SriLankan Airlines owed the CPC more than Rs. 25 billion. This was an increase of more than Rs. 13 billion when compared with the previous year. By contrast, the outstanding fuel bill was only Rs. 541 million in 2010. Mihin Lanka’s dues to CPC were more than Rs. 3 billion in 2012. It was more than Rs. 1 billion in 2011 and Rs. 361 million in 2010.

The SriLankan source earlier quoted claimed the company settled its entire fuel bill in April 2014 by cashing a Government bond. “We paid everything,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. (The company’s 2013-2014 annual report says SriLankan made a Rs. 2 billion loss by selling this bond before its maturity date).

In a series of annual reports, SriLankan Airlines maintains that the cost of fuel is primarily why profitability is low. “The cost of fuel is the main cause of reduced profitability,” said the company’s 2010-2011 report. “The average oil price for 2011 is now expected to be US$ 110 per barrel (Brent), a 15% increase over the previous forecast of US$ 96 per barrel.”

The 2012-2013 report says, “Jet fuel accounted for 45% of our operating expenditure last year, and revenue has not kept pace with the rise in fuel costs.”

Its latest report for 2013-2014 says, “The fact of the matter is that during the past years fuel prices have driven our costs up. All of these costs could not be passed on to the customer. Therefore revenue had not been able to keep up with escalating costs, leading to our losses.”

“The way I see it, SriLankan Airlines is not cost heavy in any region other than fuel acquisition,” Kapila Chandrasena, the company’s Chief Executive Officer, says in the report. The cost of aviation fuel “continues to be a significant factor impacting airline profitability” it is observed elsewhere.

Once again - another huge mess and more public funds wasted. Once again contradictory statements. Of course nobody is involved, nobody is responsible and nobody is accountable.

Once again - no investigation!

What is it going to take to get an investigation started?

4R-ADB coming back to Colombo - http://www.flightradar24.com/data/ai...r-adb/#5356b63

Thats a good news