Good news ! Is Alliance Air's first international route ? If I am not mistaken they operate only ATR72. I heard that Sri Lanka is in talks with Air India regarding connecting IXM with Colombo's city airport "Ratmalana". Are they planning to fly BLR-IXM-RML or BLR-IXM-CMB ?
Yes. They have ATR42 and ATR72. Probably ATR72 will be operated. No idea about whether it will be CMB or RML.
SriLankan Airlines to open three new routes in India from July this year
SriLankan Airlines, the national carrier of Sri Lanka, will add three new routes to its scheduled operations in India by July this year. The new cities to join the SriLankan route network are Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam and Coimbatore. With the opening of these new routes, the weekly frequencies of SriLankan between India and Colombo will go up from the present 107 to 130. Besides these, the airline is also keen to increase their existing frequencies to metro cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata.
Speaking to the media on the sidelines of a function which the airline organised to honour trade partners here in Delhi, Siva Ramachandran, Chief Commercial Officer of SriLankan Airlines, said that they have had substantial growth in traffic in recent years and see potential for further growth. “Our overall load factor on Indian routes is close to 80%. While on some routes it is close to 90%, it is not less than 70% on any of the Indian routes,” he said.
The new fleet acquisition will help the airline in its route expansion in coming months, said Ramachandran. SriLankan has added new Airbus 320neo aircraft into its fleet early this month and another one will be joining by month end. By July, two more A-321neo’s will be inducted into their fleet, he added.
Besides the new routes to India, SriLankan will also start operations to Melbourne in Australia towards the last quarter of this year.
When asked about the stake-sale in the airline by the Sri Lankan government, the airline CCO said that the government is well on its way on “partially privatizing” the carrier with 49% private stake and 100% management rights. From the bidding process, an American investment company has been shortlisted. “We expect the process to be completed by the last quarter of this year,” he said.
The airline is also in the process of delinking the MRO business and converting it into a “separate business,” as part of MRO business expansion. “We have the expertise and skilled technical expertise to expand that business,” he said, adding, “We only needs more hangar space.”
don't know about the lease rates, but both MRD and MRE will be acquired by UL and fly around another 2 years or so.
Isn't it a bit strange that MRD and MRE are still being flown to major Indian airports that have a lot of transit traffic? Since lots of passengers from Europe and N. America (who are full-fare paying passengers) connect to UL in BOM, DEL and MAA, it seems a bit unfair to fly those passengers in aircraft that are still configured as Low Cost Carrier aircraft. However, if MRD and MRE will be reconfigured to UL standards, soon, then all will be fine.
When is UL bound to receive it's next A320neo (4R-ANB). With this addition UL should take measures to phase out the older A320's. (4R-ABL,ABM) They are in a such a shoddy state.
When is UL bound to receive it's next A320neo (4R-ANB). With this addition UL should take measures to phase out the older A320's. (4R-ABL,ABM) They are in a such a shoddy state.
4R-ABM-ABP are pretty new aircraft which were delivered to UL as factory-fresh just five years ago. Lease must be not be expiring for them until 2023. I agree with 4R-ABL which is in bad state and its about to leave UL in next few months.
Does this mean that UL will fly CMB-AMD with a stopover in VTZ?
Also - Can anyone tell me the reason why UL stopped flying to CCJ? (And, is there any plan to restart flying to CCJ?).
CCJ was terminated in 2009 due to economy issues and aircraft leasing issues at UL. But UL was about to resume CCJ two years ago but again the route wasn't materialised even after they planned and load flight schedule.
4R-ABM-ABP are pretty new aircraft which were delivered to UL as factory-fresh just five years ago. Lease must be not be expiring for them until 2023. I agree with 4R-ABL which is in bad state and its about to leave UL in next few months.
Do you know exact date of the 4R-ANB's delivery is. Any news on our new airframe.
Isn't it a bit strange that MRD and MRE are still being flown to major Indian airports that have a lot of transit traffic? Since lots of passengers from Europe and N. America (who are full-fare paying passengers) connect to UL in BOM, DEL and MAA, it seems a bit unfair to fly those passengers in aircraft that are still configured as Low Cost Carrier aircraft. However, if MRD and MRE will be reconfigured to UL standards, soon, then all will be fine.
Weren't MRC and MRE reconfigured with J class when they were with MJ?
Weren't MRC and MRE reconfigured with J class when they were with MJ?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that (of the two ex-MJ aircraft that are staying with UL), MRE still has an all-Economy configuration (with narrower seats and smaller spaces, compared to the Economy cabins in the other 320s in UL's fleet). And, even though MRD does have a Business class section, it has a much more cramped configuration with regards to both classes (compared to the other 321s in UL's fleet).
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