MSN-52 1st flight........

Suren Ratwatte recently completed one year as Chief Executive Officer of SriLankan Airlines. Here, in an
exclusive interview with the Sunday Times, he speaks of turning around a company that is deeply in the
red.

Because painting is a time consuming process and it will interrupt their network operations.

SriLankan Airlines named Best Full Service Airline in Central and South Asia again

SriLankan hopes to earn profits through 11 new destinations

SriLankan will operate direct flights from Colombo to 11 new destinations namely Lahore, Pakistan, Jakarta, Indonesia, Dhaka, Bangladesh, Muscat, Oman, Kolkata, Madurai, Varanasi and Bodh Gaya India, Bahrain, Seychelles and Gan, Maldives.

SriLankan resumes Colombo-Jakarta - 30 October 2016

A step in the right direction, no doubt.

Glad to see them shedding their prestige destinations in favor of routes that actually makes some money.

While acknowledging that the new owners of UL may have other plans, the near to medium term fleet strategy for UL appears to be:

1. Wet lease 3 or 4 A330-300s to PK
2. Once they return from wet lease gradually retire the A330-200s that are coming out of lease.
3. Replace to A320s coming out of lease with A320Neo
4. Replace the A321s coming out of lease with A321Neo.
5. Get rid of the sole A319 that Mihin operated.

This appears to be a sound plan since this allows UL to operate a fleet of new narrow bodies while the 7 wide bodies are used for LHR, NRT and may be PVG etc. They can also be used in high density short haul routes to cater for seasonal traffic.

Now that they have re-aligned their strategy to become a regional player, at least their fleet planning appears to be consistent with such an approach.

This is an exciting season for Sri Lanka Aviation. Please read the important updates about airline operation at Colombo for Winter 2016.

* Mihin Lanka terminated all its routes from 30 Oct 2016;
* SriLankan is taking over all Mihin destinations and launching direct flights Gan Island on the 1 Dec 2016;
* SriLankan is taking delivery of 6 A320neo (inc A321neo) aircraft from end of Jan 2017;
* KLM is returning to Colombo from tomorrow;
* Ukraine Intl Airlines is operating regular schedule flights to Colombo (both Winter & Summer);
* Austrian Airlines connecting once a weekly Vienna-Colombo;
* Mega Maldives Airlines is launching 3 weekly Male-Colombo;
* Azur Air is flying seasonal service between Moscow-Colombo
* Iceland air flying charter to Colombo on the 1 Nov 2016;
* Thai AirAsia is flying Don Mueng-Colombo flights on 31 Oct as per Airport.lk;
* Himalaya Airlines launched Kathmandu-Colombo;
* Thomas Cook Airlines to fly nonstop flights to Colombo from Stockholm, Gatwick & Helsinki;
* Neos Airlines is operating Milano-Male-Colombo service;
* Royal Flight is operating Moscow-Colombo charter;

But unfortunately SriLankan is terminating Paris and Frankfurt service.

4R ALQ is flying to Dhaka today as UL 189.

SriLankan Airlines top foreign carrier to India with 106 flights a week

SriLankan Airlines had added 11 new destinations including Gan in the Maldives, Seychelles, Bangladesh, Indonesia and more cities in India flying 106 times a week to the country and becoming its top foreign carrier.

The addition of Kolkata, Madurai, Bodh Gaya and Varanasi will make SriLankan Airlines the foreign airline with the largest network in India, covering 11 cities with 106 flights per week, increasing from its present 88 flights to seven cities.

"We have realigned our strategic focus to Asia, from the Middle East to the Far East, as we see excellent opportunities in this high-growth region," SriLankan Chairman Ajith Dias said in a statement.

"We are confident that the linking of so many Asian cities will produce a travel network which will be extremely convenient for our passengers and profitable for the airline."

SriLankan Airlines starts Dhaka-Colombo flights

SriLankan Airlines, the national flag carrier of Sri Lanka, starts direct flight from Dhaka to Colombo today.

The airline will operate the daily flight by an Airbus A330 with 18 seats in business class and 252 seats in economy class.

Through this direct flight service SriLankan Airlines will also provide convenient connections to 100 destinations in 47 countries in its global network and over 1,000 destinations via the oneworld alliance network, according to a press statement.

The non-stop flight will offer a state-of-the-art entertainment system and exquisite in-flight cuisine.

The service is expected to cater to a mix of passengers including leisure travellers, business travellers, students and passengers connecting to Sri Lankan's global network.

The new service between Dhaka and Colombo would boost SriLankan Airlines' strategic focus on the Asian region, connecting Europe, the Middle East and the Far East.

A330-200 got 18J 252Y config.
4R-ALQ is A330-300. New bird. Why on earth UL is flying newbirds to destination like Dhaka.

They can take the risk of flying new birds to Chennai, Dhaka, Dammam, Riyadh, etc because the planes won't return back to CMB as flying dumpsters unlike on flights to LHE and KHI.

To be honest using an A333 to DAC is very practical mainly since MJ operated a Double Daily flight to keep up with the demand for this growing market utilizing both their A321's.
UL has taken a correct decision to operate a bigger aircraft once a day

and yes I think we'd better find another Airline to sub-lease our A333's to