Announcement

**Max** · 20-12-2016, 03:28 AM

Originally posted by banuthev View Post

Peace Air in US$ 5.5 B bid for SriLankan

Sri Lanka's Peace Air has made the best bid worth US $5.5 billion to acquire SriLankan Airlines;

The highlight of the acquisition is that the SriLankan brand name and the livery will remain and there will be no retrenchment of staff, but it will be expanded;

Under the proposed route expansion programme, there will be five destinations each in Africa, China, Europe and Australia, ten in India and 6 in East Asia. Plans to resume SriLankan Airlines flights to Rome, Zurich and Frankfurt;

There are also ambitious plans to fly to five Australian destinations – Canberra, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth, and another, which will be decided later and also five destinations in Africa;

One of the key hallmarks of the deal is that Peace Air has also signed an Agreement with Lufthansa Consulting;

They also stressed that they would be getting ready to cancel the lease agreements of the 21 existing aircraft, for which the national carrier was paying excessively, adding that there were four aircraft which were as old as 17 years. They also decried that the lease for a one-year-old aircraft was the same as the 17-year-old aircraft.

We will be going for the best bid, whether it be Airbus or Boeing, they added.

The most attractive part of the deal is that Peace Air has undertaken to bear the debts of both SriLankan, which stands at US$ 953 million and Mihin US$ 69 million. Peace Air has also expressed interest in getting a 70% share, 90% equity stake of Mihin and 100% equity stake in SriLankan Airlines Catering Services Ltd.

http://www.ceylontoday.lk/print20161...1.php?id=11327

US$ 5.5 Billion, Is it a joke?

Not even John Keells or Aitken Spence capable to offer such an investment package.

**Sandaru** · 20-12-2016, 12:22 PM

Originally posted by ejanson65 View Post

There don't appear to be any serious candidates to run/take over UL.

The fact that no Airlines are interested says enough about the state of UL imho.

Then what are the choices UL has? Shut down the whole thing?

**Speedbird** · 20-12-2016, 05:54 PM

Originally posted by Sandaru View Post

Then what are the choices UL has? Shut down the whole thing?

Simply Yes

**Serendib** · 20-12-2016, 09:15 PM

Aerospace Turbine Services & Solutions (TS&S Aerospace), a leading maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) provider for aircraft engines in the Middle East, has been selected by SriLankan Airlines to service its Trent 700 engines.

**CalgaryLankan** · 20-12-2016, 10:01 PM

Not sure if this is posted here before;

Just saw this very clear ATC recording of UL 503 diverting to Bucharest (LROP) last month due to sick passenger.

http://www.liveatc.net/forums/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=13542.0;attach=9109

or

ALK503 diverted to LROP

http://www.liveatc.net/forums/atcaviation-audio-clips/b727f-receives-advice-of-a-disabled-aircraft-blocking-the-runway-in-brisbane/?prev_next=next

ALK503 diverted to LROP

**anthonylk** · 21-12-2016, 07:21 AM

Originally posted by CalgaryLankan View Post

Not sure if this is posted here before;

Just saw this very clear ATC recording of UL 503 diverting to Bucharest (LROP) last month due to sick passenger.

http://www.liveatc.net/forums/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=13542.0;attach=9109

or
http://www.liveatc.net/forums/atcavi...prev_next=next

Interesting.

Is there any site to listen to ATC recordings of the BIA tower ?

**Sandaru** · 21-12-2016, 07:37 AM

Originally posted by anthonylk View Post

Interesting.

Is there any site to listen to ATC recordings of the BIA tower ?

LiveATC is the only site which has live streaming of BIA ATC. But since it is inactive for 72 days continuously i think they'll remove it from the site soon. http://www.liveatc.net/search/?icao=vcbi

**Max** · 21-12-2016, 11:33 AM

SriLankan Airlines punctuality improving

SriLankan Airlines said it has begun to be consistently ranked among the most punctual international airlines by the global flight data monitoring organisation Flightstats, with its punctuality improving in the last five months.

SriLankan was ranked 6th most punctual in the world for July 2016, 14th in August, 16th in September, 6th in October and 11th in November, according to an analysis of data by Flightstats (www.flightstats.com), a statement said.

Sri Lanka’s Hambantota Port see rise in European cruise calls in 2024 | EconomyNext

http://economynext.com/SriLankan_Airlines_punctuality_improving-3-6907.html

Sri Lanka's Hambantota Port said it saw an increase in European cruise ship calls while there was a noticeable decline in cruise ships coming from India.

**Haleef** · 21-12-2016, 03:13 PM

Originally posted by banuthev View Post

SriLankan's A321 / 4R-MRD is not flying since 12th Dec. Any reason ?

Originally posted by umedhah View Post

Some rumors.... She is going to get Air Ceylon livery.... Not 100% confirmed...

MRD isn't painted.. I saw it in Colombo day before.. It was parked on the parking bay next to the B727F (Lankan Cargo).. Took a picture, but will be able to post it in Jan only..

**banuthev** · 21-12-2016, 06:55 PM

Originally posted by ejanson65 View Post

Exactly - $5.5 Billion is a huge amount of money. You could start a pretty big operation with this kind of money.

@Lukeskywalker - thanks for the links. Just confirms what i already knew.

There don't appear to be any serious candidates to run/take over UL.

The fact that no Airlines are interested says enough about the state of UL imho.

Sri Lanka proceeds with plans for restructuring national airline

Fri, Dec 16, 2016, 07:40 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

Dec 16, Colombo: The Sri Lanka government is proceeding with plans for restructuring its national carrier SriLankan Airlines based on Private Public Partnership model, an official said here on Friday.

Sri Lankan Deputy Minister of State Enterprise Development Eran Wickramaratne told Xinhua that eight parties expressed interests and they were shortlisted to three.

He said the Requests for Proposals were being evaluated at the moment and recommendations would be made to the relevant parties after that.

"That process will take place by January. If there is no satisfactory party recommended to us, it will end there," he said.

Besides, he said the national carrier would rationalize its fleet and routes with the focus of developing it as a regional airline.

http://www.colombopage.com/archive_16B/Dec16_1481897442CH.php

**banuthev** · 21-12-2016, 07:01 PM

Originally posted by 4R-ADA View Post

Seriously have the folks at UL been hit on the head with falling coconuts? So passengers are expected to spend 4-5 hours "in transit" at HRI before heading onto China?!
This is utterly ridiculous no matter which way you look at it.
If this airport was say, Changi or Dubai or Schipol, I can expect to fill a good 1-2 hours at the most, but expecting a plane load of 300 Chinese tourists heading home to fill up the terminal at HRI for 4-5 hours is waaay beyond a joke. It will take all over 5 minutes to get totally bored there.
Surely they can no negotiate an earlier arrival slot in China.

SriLankan Airlines which ditched Mattala airport on grounds that landing there and taking off was a huge uncalled expense was once again looking at the Hambantota airport.

This is because of the Colombo international airport runway closure during day time for repairs from next month.

The airline has been able to re schedule most of their international flights in other destinations and is flying at night and until before 8 a.m. However the airline has not being able to successfully negotiate with two Chinese destinations that the airline was flying to. The Chinese airports have not offered alternative timings slots for SriLankan to land.

This has resulted in SriLankan airlines forced to take off in the morning and land at Mattala and be grounded there for five hours before taking off to the Chinese destinations again incurring a heavy expense to the airline.

The Airport Authority of Sri Lanka (ASSL) has confirmed that the Colombo Bandaranaike International Airport will be closed for 8 hours from 8 am to 4.30 pm effective January 6 to April 6, 2017.

Runway closure prompts SriLankan back to Mattala

http://dailynews.lk/2016/12/21/business/102506

SriLankan Airlines which ditched Mattala airport on grounds that landing there and taking off was a huge uncalled expense was once again looking at the Hambantota airport. This is because of the Colombo international airport runway closure during day time for repairs from next month.

**umedhah** · 21-12-2016, 08:04 PM

Originally posted by Haleef View Post

MRD isn't painted.. I saw it in Colombo day before.. It was parked on the parking bay next to the B727F (Lankan Cargo).. Took a picture, but will be able to post it in Jan only..

Wondering if their behind the schedule? It was meant to be getting a new paint job last week.

**4R-ADA** · 21-12-2016, 09:58 PM

Originally posted by banuthev View Post

SriLankan Airlines which ditched Mattala airport on grounds that landing there and taking off was a huge uncalled expense was once again looking at the Hambantota airport.

This is because of the Colombo international airport runway closure during day time for repairs from next month.

The airline has been able to re schedule most of their international flights in other destinations and is flying at night and until before 8 a.m. However the airline has not being able to successfully negotiate with two Chinese destinations that the airline was flying to. The Chinese airports have not offered alternative timings slots for SriLankan to land.

This has resulted in SriLankan airlines forced to take off in the morning and land at Mattala and be grounded there for five hours before taking off to the Chinese destinations again incurring a heavy expense to the airline.

The Airport Authority of Sri Lanka (ASSL) has confirmed that the Colombo Bandaranaike International Airport will be closed for 8 hours from 8 am to 4.30 pm effective January 6 to April 6, 2017.

http://dailynews.lk/2016/12/21/business/102506

If the overall cost is a significant loss, surely it is better off to temporarily cancel the service. I am really surprised why they didn't route the service through Bangkok, after all they still do have rights between Bangkok and China.
It is kind of unfortunate that the runway works are happening smack bang in the middle of the peak season too.

**ejanson65** · 22-12-2016, 01:41 PM

Originally posted by banuthev View Post

"That process will take place by January. If there is no satisfactory party recommended to us, it will end there," he said.

http://www.colombopage.com/archive_1...81897442CH.php

I read that as the PPP ending. Although shutting this down is what needs to happen imho.

This is the last desperate roll of the dice - another Epic Fail coming up by the looks of things.

**ctpesk** · 22-12-2016, 06:46 PM

Hi Guys,

this is to let you know i have seen the SriLankan A321 NEO outside at XFW fully painted today.

Tail is wearing "NA". No engines fitted yet.

Unfortunately there was no chance for a photo, but you shall see one soon on the "usual" channels i'm sure.

All the Best
Stefan

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