European Aviation Safety Agency approves SriLankan Engineering to global standard

I notice they conveniently leave out the cost - this wouldn't have been cheap!

Rossiya 777-300 will operate Moscow Sheremetyevo – Colombo route starting 17DEC18, replacing existing Aeroflot A330-300 service, 5 times a week.

Etihad Cargo is still serving CMB and LCK via Milan, the schedule shows, means they never left or resumed after a short break.

Lol - anybody believe this nonsense? Anybody holding this junk deserves what's coming to them imho.



More racketeering - these people are obviously protected. As usual nobody is accountable.

As I've repeatedly stated - SriLankan doesn't resemble a Business in any way.

Thai Lion Air adds Colombo service in Jan 2019

Thai Lion Air from January 2019 plans to offer service to Sri Lanka, which sees the airline operates Bangkok Don Mueang – Colombo route. Service to be operated by Boeing 737-800 on daily basis, effective 18JAN19.

SL230 DMK0635 – 0830CMB 738 x56
SL232 DMK0835 – 1030CMB 738 56

SL231 CMB0930 – 1445DMK 738 x56
SL233 CMB1130 – 1645DMK 738 56

Source: Routesonline

Good competition for UL and Thai AirAsia!
No wonder UL has slashed their fares to BKK to 30K (inclusive of taxes)

Jet Airways Flight To Colombo Returns To Mumbai Due To Technical Snag

A Colombo-bound Jet Airways flight returned to the Mumbai airport due to some technical reasons on Tuesday, the airline said.

"The commander of the flight 9W 252, which departed from Mumbai for Colombo on Tuesday executed a turn back and landed safely in Mumbai," Jet Airways said in a statement.

It was necessitated due to technical reasons for which investigation was being carried out, it added.

Jet Airways has arranged for an alternative aircraft with a revised departure time for the passengers to travel to Colombo, it said.

Guests are being looked after at the Mumbai airport in the interim, the airline added.

It's a big mistake UL have cancelled HKG and reduced the BKK flights from 21 to 17 weekly.

UIA Ukraine Airlines is going to discontinue flights to Colombo effect 31 March 2019.

Not if they are losing money on them.

Judging by the ongoing massive losses there are no profitable routes. Whenever some UL representative is wheeled out to talk more "Big Talk BS" they never talk about this.

As discussed previously the high lease costs and contracts without a termination clause means that it is impossible to make money operating flights.

It costs money to operate flights - this is a company that is running out of money. More cuts seem likely imho.

More Losses Revealed for the National Carrier!

It is reported that UL had made an overall loss of USD 3.2 Million (Aprox LKR 560 Million) in a period of 4 Months when operating from Colombo to Zurich

Sad to know that UIA are terminating operations, probably due to the fact that Azur Air Ukraine are to commence operations in the near future. Lets hope that they too operate their iconic Boeing 767's to CMB similar to what UIA did

Bizarre route decisions of SriLankan Airlines

Testifying at today’s (December 12) Presidential Commission of Inquiry on irregularities at SriLankan Airlines, SriLankan Catering, and Mihin Lanka was former Country Manager of SriLankan, Rajiva Prakash Jayaweera.

Commenting on the airline’s decision to fly to Gan Island in the Maldives, the witness stated that the decision was taken in September 2012, and flying commenced just six weeks later, without proper marketing or planning. It was revealed last month, that the loss-making operations to Gan island cost SriLankan more than 2.1 million US dollars.

Representatives of the Attorney General’s department also questioned the witness over a contract agreement extended to the Airlines by a Swiss tour operator named Hotel Planner.

The 4-month agreement starting December 2011, agreed to accommodate 75% of every 150 seats with tourists, flying to Colombo and Maldives. The foreign tour operator agreed to reimburse CHF 775 or USD 830 per seat if the pre-agreed seat percentage was not utilized. While Zurich operations during the four-month period cost Sri Lankan a further estimated loss of 3.4 million US Dollars, the airlines did not receive a single payment from the tour operator.

Source: News first.lk

Azur Ukraine is going to operate seasonal charters but UIA is flying year-round schedule flights. UIA is replacing all their B767 with 361 seater B777 from 2019. Termination of UIA flights to Colombo may be due to the fact there is no demand for operating UIA B777 to Colombo. But its sad to see UIA leave. Hope TK would consider flying nonstop flights to Colombo. In Summer, only UL and TK are connecting Europe and Sri Lanka with direct flights.

A group of wealthy tourists arrive at MRIA

A group of wealthy tourists arrived at the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) last afternoon for a three-day excursion of Sri Lanka, Airport Manager Upali Kalansuriya said. Speaking to the Daily Mirror, he said 247 passengers had arrived for sight seen in Hambantota.
The tourists were arrived from Singapore by chartered Airbus A 340, he said. “The flight landed at MRIA at 1.07 p.m. and scheduled to leave for Uzbekistan at 3.30 a.m on Thursday,” he said. A rousing welcome was accorded at the MRIA.