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**ejanson65** · 22-04-2018, 08:25 AM

Originally posted by Serendib View Post

SriLankan Airlines in hot water over wet lease

COLOMBO (News 1st) – News 1st has continuously reported on the decline of SriLankan Airlines, with the increasing debt of the institution. The situation could not be turned around despite the appointment of a new Board of Directors and officials to the country’s national carrier soon after the good governance government came into power.

Against this backdrop, three Airbus A330s that were acquired by SriLankan airlines, with the aim of upgrading their fleet, have been handed over to a Turkish airline under a Wet lease agreement.The initial Memorandum of Understanding prepared for the lease of the Airbus A330s was flawed on a number of grounds.

First, the agreement does not include any information on who will bear the cost of fueling the aircraft. It also does not include any details on which party is supposed to pay for the landing charges of the aircraft. In an inquiry made by News 1st, an official of SriLankan Airlines said that this is only the preliminary agreement and a number of other details are to be included.

However, the fact that important aspects of the agreement such as which party should bear the cost of fueling the aircraft give rise to suspicion. Following concerns raised by trade unions over the losses that could be caused to the country owing to the agreement, a group of officials from SriLankan Airlines left to Turkey for further discussions. According to the agreement, all costs of future discussions should be borne by the relevant party. Therefore, all costs of the officials of SriLankan Airlines who left for the discussions in Turkey should also be borne by SriLankan Airlines.

With the lease of these three aircraft, the only aircraft in the SriLankan Airlines fleet are three A330s which are over 18 years old

Source:news1st

Looks like another corrupt deal - the fact that this appears to come from Rogue CEO Suren Ratwatte just adds to this suspicion.

Turkish will not be leasing these aircraft at the rates SriLankan are paying. They will lease them at market rates and SriLankan will have to eat the difference. That could easily be U$400,000/aircraft/month.

Once again - looks like it's all about the Commission.

A few people getting rich at the expense of the entire country.

The GOSL will continue to run SriLankan - even if it drags the entire country under.

Hopefully the IMF will put a stop to this - the sooner the better imho.

**Haleef** · 22-04-2018, 11:53 AM

Originally posted by ejanson65 View Post

Looks like another corrupt deal - the fact that this appears to come from Rogue CEO Suren Ratwatte just adds to this suspicion.

Turkish will not be leasing these aircraft at the rates SriLankan are paying. They will lease them at market rates and SriLankan will have to eat the difference. That could easily be U$400,000/aircraft/month.

Once again - looks like it's all about the Commission.

A few people getting rich at the expense of the entire country.

The GOSL will continue to run SriLankan - even if it drags the entire country under.

Hopefully the IMF will put a stop to this - the sooner the better imho.

I think this is one of 'Fake news'' plan. He had this plan way before the new board came over.

**leyland** · 25-04-2018, 06:39 AM

Seems NEO fleet has regained ETOPS certification.

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**Serendib** · 25-04-2018, 11:06 AM

Losing business

Vithanage believes that there were plans to close down four destinations in the coming months, possibly as a precaution to address the shortage of pilots. “Ratwatte had earlier decided to close down Jeddha, Visakapatnam, Muscat and Hong Kong routes, but following trade union agitation, we learned that he is going to reduce the frequency of flights to these destinations instead of closing down the routes. When Ratwatte introduced the narrow bodied aircraft to Hong Kong a few months ago, we lost business by way of cargo transportation. As a result, Cathay Pacific grabbed the opportunity and increased the frequency of their cargo flights to Hong Kong,”Vithanage said.

The international flights from Vizag to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Colombo and Bangkok are said to be doing good business with a high occupancy of around 90 % on an average.

SriLankan Airlines, which operates, four days a week from Vizag to Colombo is drawing excellent response in view of the good onward connections, competitive fare and the low Visa fee.

International flights record occupancy rate of 90%

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Visakhapatnam/international-flights-record-occupancy-rate-of-90/article23651414.ece

Visakhapatnam News:International flights record occupancy rate of 90%

SriLankan Airlines restarted the service from Hyderabad in July last year with four flights, and increased it to five by November. It has now gone for for daily service with a round trip ticket available for about ₹15,500 with 80% occupancy claims for the less-than-two-hours flight.

**SLD-N** · 25-04-2018, 12:20 PM

Originally posted by Haleef View Post

It left CMB this morning. I think it's bound to MLE. Probably would have come for refuelling or to drop off cargo.

This explains! http://www.airforce.lk/news.php?news=3574

**Haleef** · 25-04-2018, 02:30 PM

Originally posted by SLD-N View Post

This explains! http://www.airforce.lk/news.php?news=3574

Yes, it came to CMB, then took off with SLAF cargo to Entebbe, and then returned the following day with SLAF helicopters and other equipment from Entebbe. Left CMB on the 23rd during morning hours back to its destination.

**ejanson65** · 26-04-2018, 08:49 AM

International flights record occupancy rate of 90%

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Visakhapatnam/international-flights-record-occupancy-rate-of-90/article23651414.ece

Visakhapatnam News:International flights record occupancy rate of 90%

Load factor means nothing - the important figure is the yield. I see they don't bother discussing this or even whether the route is profitable.

As I've stated previously the lease costs are so high that it is impossible to make money. I don't believe any routes are profitable. Ongoing massive losses support this.

Seems to me that is this was profitable that Suren and Co. would be announcing this as an example of their great leadership.

**ejanson65** · 26-04-2018, 09:05 PM

US Fed governor Waller explains potential for ‘stablecoin’ cryptocurrency | EconomyNext

http://economynext.com/SriLankan_Airlines_Presidential_commission_to_begin_probe_in_two_weeks-3-10466.html

A type of cryptocurrency called stablecoins, which are clones of existing fiat currencies but with blockchain capabilities to settle cross border transactions has the potential to innovate money and payment system, US Fed Governor, Christopher Waller has said.

Another day another Commission......

How many is that now? I've lost count.

And still not a single person charged or imprisoned even though all the names of the people involved in approving this deal are listed in the Weliamuna Comission report.

How about getting a copy of the lease contracts and see who signed these on behalf of the Airline?

Just more 'Big Talk' - I don't expect anything to happen.

For the naive people on this Forum - selling out your country for personal gain is called TREASON!

**LankaXWB** · 27-04-2018, 05:50 PM

Today I think UL 171 diverted to Chennai. I saw it in parked in Chennai airport when I flown in UL 124. Now it is flying as UL171D to Colombo.

**Serendib** · 28-04-2018, 08:03 AM

The SriLankan Airlines will experience a shortage of pilots soon as many are leaving, say sources at the national carrier.

In the past few days alone, eight first officers left the airline, owing to its unstable situation and also the increase in the PAYE tax they have to pay.

Previously they paid 16 per cent of their salary as tax, for an average Rs. 175,000 per month, which has now risen to 24 pc.

A pilot does not earn overtime and the maximum flying hour entitlement is 100 hours per month.

A shortage of pilots will mean the end of the airline, a pilot said on condition of anonymity.

First officers have a big demand in foreign airlines, and they can earn around 7,000 US dollars per month.

In addition, they are entitled to get educational expenses of children until they reach 22 years of age, a house, a car and discount air tickets.

An investigation by Sri Lanka Mirror revealed that most pilots who joined SriLankan following the closure of Mihin Lanka have now been recruited by Qatar Airways and Viet Jets.

Meanwhile, SriLankan has returned an Airbus A320-200 (4R-ABP) it had acquired on 13 April 2012, to the leasing company. It had flown to Malta via Abu Dhabi on April 18.

Page not found – Sri Lanka Mirror – Right to Know. Power to Change

https://www.srilankamirror.com/news/8258-srilankan-to-face-pilot-shortage

**ejanson65** · 28-04-2018, 09:59 AM

https://www.srilankamirror.com/news/...pilot-shortage

Plenty of options for good people - no need to work under unqualified political appointees like Suren.

Good to see people paying attention to what is going on within the Airline - seems some people understand what is coming.

Good to see people 'voting with their feet'!

They can forget about recruiting Expat Pilots - their poor treatment of Expats is well known within the Global pilot Community.

The sad thing is that a group of us put together 2 documents to help them.

- How to recruit Expats (including detailed strategies).
- Expat issues at UL and what needed to be done to solve these issues (some issues would have cost UL nothing to solve).

All completely ignored by Druvi Perera.

They opted instead for a policy of 100% local Pilots - see that's working out really well!

I think the financial issues will sink UL first.

**Serendib** · 30-04-2018, 07:34 AM

SriLankan Airlines expands frequency to Gulf countries

**Azamh** · 30-04-2018, 04:05 PM

I think UL cmb mel is doing well any idea ?

**ejanson65** · 01-05-2018, 07:06 AM

Originally posted by Azamh View Post

I think UL cmb mel is doing well any idea ?

If it was making money Suren would be taking credit for it.

Ongoing massive losses indicate that there are no profitable routes.

**Azamh** · 01-05-2018, 04:10 PM

Originally posted by ejanson65 View Post

If it was making money Suren would be taking credit for it.

Ongoing massive losses indicate that there are no profitable routes.

These days v hard to get seats flight full

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