Colombo as a hot city pair for India(2015), SriLankan Airlines, a member of the British Airways-led One world, carried almost 13 lakh people into and out of India — more than mega carriers like Lufthansa (11.1 lakh) and Singapore Airlines (11.9 lakh) -( because of the connections it provides from Colombo to Indian globetrotters.)"Way to go Sri Lanka".

In order to increase capacity on more commercially viable routes, SriLankan will discontinue operations to Rome from May 1, 2016.Accordingly, London will remain SriLankan’s main gateway to Europe and Paris with four weekly frequencies,adding Frankfurt as a fifth frequency from July 2016, which will continue during summer 2016.

Dropping Rome was the best decision rather than withdrawing completely from mainland Europe...most advisors had a knee jerk reaction saying FRA and CDG need to be dropped...well if these 2 routes are not profitable (well currently they are not profitable)...find out why they are not profitable with a 80+% load factor...answer is quite simple; (# of UL employees and their family members) reduce or completely eliminate the UL staff (have virtual offices) in these 2 stations plus London as well. recall Manoj Vass back to Colombo. There is no need for him to stay in London.

Finally as a One World member think about FRA - YYZ (this is a domain of 2 Star alliance Hubs)

IIRC UL tried to drop FCO during the previous regime also but ended up shelving the plan after the local bishop or someone intervened through the president to leave the gateway to Vatican open....

I sincerely hope the same interference does not happen this time around also.... Hopefully UL can get more load through MLE for FRA & CDG if the 5th freedom flights is on the cards.

If a fifth freedom flight is in the works wouldn't it be better to fly MLE-LHR?

Doesn't UL already offer LHR-MLE-CMB?

I know this route was operated back in the day but I don't think it exists anymore. I could be wrong though.

No not ATM.

Why?

Did you mean seasonal long haul flights from MLE?

SriLankan Airlines to axe Rome, boost Middle East, China

SriLankan Airlines will axe its loss-making run to Rome and boost frequencies to China, India and the Middle East after getting using its newly acquired Airbus A330-300 aircraft.

SriLankan Airlines said it was responding to competition by "re-evaluating its current operations and re-deploying capacity to more sustainable routes and destinations."

The airline said it will continue non-stop flights from Colombo to London as the 'main gateway' to Europe. It will fly to Paris four times a week and a fight Frankfurt flight will be added during summer 2016.

SriLankan has said it was losing money on European routes, especially with older fuel-guzzling A340 aircraft which have now been phased out.

An earlier attempt to cut the Rome flight was reportedly thwarted by ex-President Mahinda Rajapaksa following lobbying by sections of the clergy.

Sri Lanka's high end tourist hotel lobby is also pressuring the airline to operate loss-making routes to Europe at the expense of the people to safeguard their own profits.

The airline started to lose money after Dubai-based Emirates terminated its management deal over a disagreement with the ousted Rajapaksa regime.

SriLankan said it will start daily flights to Riyadh and six flights a week to Jeddah. It now flies 42 times week to Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Doha, Dammam, Riyadh, Jeddah and Kuwait in the Middle East.

SriLankan operates 88 flights a week to seven Indian destinations and 26 flights to Male.

The carrier said its South Asian operations are also a lynchpin of its partnership with OneWorld, a global airline alliance.

China, which is catching up with India as the top tourist destination is also a key focus area. The airline said I recently started to fly non-stop three times a week to Guangzhou.

It flies to Beijing, Shanghai, Canton and Kunming in the mainland 18 times a week and three times a week to Hong Kong.

SriLankan operates 19 flights week to Singapore and twice a day to Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok.

Fuel costs are very high in MLE. In addition it costs a lot of money to have 2 sets of crew overnighting in MLE for each flight performed.

Much cheaper to fly LHR-CMB and have MLE passengers transit via CMB.

SriLankan Airlines first A350 / MSN 52.

All thanks to our forum colleague AF777 for sharing the pictures. These pictures were taken when it was in the Station 50 (Body Join). MSN52 currently in the Station 40 for the final assembly. Hope to see more latest pictures.

Woooww Wonderful !!!! Thanks a lot AF777

India's busiest international route in 2015

The Mumbai-Dubai route was India's busiest international city pair in 2015, with 21.5 lakh people flying between the two business centres.

Delhi-Dubai followed as the second busiest sector with 17 lakh people flying between the two cities last year, according to Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data.

And don't be surprised by the inclusion of Colombo as a hot city pair for India. In 2015, SriLankan Airlines, a member of the British Airways-led Oneworld, carried almost 13 lakh people into and out of India — more than mega carriers like Lufthansa (11.1 lakh) and Singapore Airlines (11.9 lakh) -because of the connections it provides from Colombo to Indian globetrotters.