Sadly, UL lost the plot ages ago...
They should?ve acquired a couple of ATR/Bombardier Aircraft and operated out of RML and JAF. However now with the so called new airlines coming into the market UL would begin to loose heavily on the Indian sectors
FitsAir has already got approval to operate Internationally if I?m not mistaken and Alliance Air was also the main airline operating out of JAF before COVID
The least UL could do to maintain its dominance and its market share would be to own a stake in one of these new private airlines
But then again.... it?s honestly too late

Still more work to do.

Hi Haleef, i can see 4R-ABR is doing test flight now. is it in srilankan livery?

Fly Lankan Asia To Operate Boeing 737-200s and BAe 146s

Airline start-up Fly Lankan Asia has applied for an air operator?s certificate (AOC) and plans to operate domestic and international scheduled flights.

Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CAASL) director of flight operations, Lushan Fernando, tells Smart Aviation APAC that Fly Lankan Asia?s proposed fleet includes BAe 146-300s for commercial passenger operations and Boeing 737-200s for cargo operations.

The airline is seeking to fly internationally to: Jeddah and Madina in Saudi Arabia; Medan, Jakarta, Semarang, Madina, Surabaya and Makassar in Indonesia; and Johor Bahru and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, Fernando adds. But he declines to name the proposed domestic routes.

Fly Lankan Asia is based at Bandaranaike International Airport in Colombo, Fernando says. The airline?s accountable director is Air Vice Marshal PDJ Kumarasiri, who is also CEO of maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) company Ceylon Aeronautical Services, according to the CAA.

?The AOC process will take six months from the formal application phase, and COVID-19 will [have a delaying effect] on aircraft acceptance and proving flight requirements,? Fernando says.

If certified, Fly Lankan Asia will be Sri Lanka?s third scheduled international operator after national carrier SriLankan Airlines and FitsAir, which is primarily an international cargo airline that also has some domestic passenger services.

FitsAir, which uses an ATR 72-200 for domestic passenger services, says in a statement that it launched a thrice-weekly service on 1 February linking Colombo?s secondary airport Ratmalana International Airport (RIA) to Jaffna. The airport at Jaffna was a military airport, but was recently transformed into a commercial airport with a 1400m-long runway.

FitsAir also operates a twice-weekly scheduled service from Colombo?s RIA to Batticaloa, a major city on Sri Lanka?s east coast.

The only other domestic scheduled operator is Cinnamon Air which flies eight-seat Cessna
Caravans.

A 2016 World Bank report said there is potential to develop domestic regional air services in Sri Lanka, because the country?s rail and road network is inadequate.

The report said the airport at Mattala and Sigiriya also had potential to be served by scheduled domestic air services.

Photo: Michael Mehnert

Regarding 4R-ABR, I think she's going to leave next week.

Sounds good although they would need to find a suitable aircraft for long/medium haul routes

Getting into the cargo business and operating dedicated freighters too is a good move

Personally I Would love to fly on their BAE146!

Let?s hope for the best

I think this is like another LankanCargo which was using old B727F for a short period and it's grounded after aircraft lost the airworthiness. Hope they are not bringing B732F which would fly for only short period

Any update on FlySouthern getting Short-360 & B737-200F ?

Hey guys, asking just out of curiosity, is there even a good demand for domestic routes? (if we exclude tourists)

SriLankan Airlines negotiating with lessors, reducing costs

SriLankan Airlines Chairman Ashok Pathirage, in an interview with Bloomberg Markets Asia yesterday, discussed how the national carrier is coping up with the impact of the COVID pandemic.

He said that the airline has seen a 75% drop in turnover compared to last year due to the pandemic, and they have taken many measures to reduce costs. However, he expressed optimism that the organisation will be in better shape post-COVID, as compared to most of the larger airline companies.

?We have taken a lot of initiative to reduce our costs. We have negotiated with our lessors, reduced salaries of our employees, and we are planning to have a volunteer retirement scheme (VRS). We are successful in all those initiatives. This is also a good opportunity for SriLankan Airlines to cut a lot of costs, particularly in leases. We have managed to reduce leasing cost by 18%, which is about $100 billion per annum,? he said.

......

When asked if SriLankna Airlines was still going ahead with plans to lease A350 or A330 aircrafts, Pathirage said it was a pre-COVID decision. ?In today?s context, we don?t need 30% of our fleet. We are negotiating with Airbus to see what the best option for us is, but at the moment, we are not in a position to tell what it is going to be,? he added.

He categorically denied the speculations of selling the airline to an interested Chinese firm, stating that it is not the Government?s vision. ?The Government?s vision is not to sell the company, and we are not engaged in any such activity. It is not the thinking of the shareholders,? he pointed out.

full news http://www.ft.lk/front-page/SriLanka...osts/44-706275

More Fairy Tales - just like all these "proposed' new Airlines.

How many years have they been trying to do this at UL? How many CEOs tried and failed?

It's quite simple:-

Normally when you sign an Aircraft Lease deal it contains a Termination Clause. One of the conditions will be 'Force Mejeure' - which is currently the case.

The UL lease contracts do not contain a Termination Clause as admitted by Suren Ratwatte.

This means there is nothing to renegotiate - UL have to honour the contract(s).

Educated Speculation:-

Incompetence is a possibility but I think this was done deliberately.

The only possible reason to do this is to increase the value of the deal and the amount of Commission paid. Some people pocketed a great deal of money.

This should have been investigated as part of the 1 year investigation into UL. I don't believe this report will ever be released.

Hi All,

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Thai Airways International delays regular service to Dec 2020

Thai Airways International on Monday 21SEP20 closed reservation for all flights for the month of November 2020, signaling the airline?s further postponement to its planned service resumption. The airline now plans to resume service as early as 01DEC20, instead of 01NOV20, as all flights between 01NOV20 and 30NOV20 (Bangkok departure) is no longer available for reservation.

Following routes are impacted by the latest postponement of service resumption.

Bangkok ? Auckland
Bangkok ? Bangalore
Bangkok ? Beijing Capital
Bangkok ? Brisbane
Bangkok ? Brussels
Bangkok ? Busan
Bangkok ? Chengdu
Bangkok ? Chennai
Bangkok ? Colombo
Bangkok ? Copenhagen
.....

Hi haleef, i can see UL A332 is going to fly to Manado in Indonesia as UL1422 one way flight on 27-Sep-20. it seems this is a delivery flight. May be this is 4R-ALJ ?

What about the leases on 4R ALA / B ?