Cathay Pacific is cancelling some destinations from its network. Is Colombo Airport safe from CX Routes cut?

Sri Lankan Airlines Dec 2020 Flight Operations

Below details are showing only the flights from Colombo. Data is based information from SriLankan Airlines Cargo Website.

• New Destination Ho chi Minh City From 22 November 2020 ;
• SriLankan Airlines resumes London flights via Male' with two weekly ;
• SriLankan Airlines Tokyo flights via Male' are not showing on the SriLankan Website yet.

Its good to see Sri Lanka is one of the few countries in Quarantine Exemption.

i think Sri Lanka has to open the airport for commercial operations like the Maldives. If i am not mistaken currently Sri Lanka airports are only open for Cargo and Repatriation flights?

May be this is a time for Sri Lanka to regain the market that lost to Indian Airports in the past. SriLankan has to increase more flights to London. Lets hope British Airways would resume flights to Colombo with B787.

Please share your thoughts on this.

But CMB airport , is not yet open for normal arrivals ( only govt approved ) travellers are allowed.

In Jan20, Ethiopian Airlines was planning to fly Colombo Airport with 4 weekly A350/B787, effective April 2020. Shame COVID19 must have ruined the plan.

By the way, Ethiopian Cargo B77F was flying to Colombo last Wednesday. Colombo Airport website is again showing Ethiopian Cargo (ET3602/3) is due to arrive at Colombo at 08:45am, 25 Nov. Some one please confirm.

But Airport is open for departures. Hope it will be opened for all travellers soon with strict health guidelines.

Amazing idea!
Hope they can provide some solid outbound connections form Addis Ababa

Guys, does anyone of you have any updates relating to these start up airlines : Spark Air and Fly Lankan?
Thanks

I haven't heard about these two after Sri Lanka 's Fitsair started the cargo operations with A321F.

Fly Lankan Asia Facebook page also seems to be closed ? https://m.facebook.com/flylankanasia/

Does anyone have any updates on start up airlines : Fly Lankan Asia and Sparkair?

Q. Would it be better to negotiate our leases and to get older model Airbus aircraft for less monthly lease and interest rates since, as you said, the current fleet of Airbus A330s are not efficient at doing air cargo and passenger transport like the Boeing 747?

A. Most of the leases are for 12-year periods. Many of them began in 2014/15 and some in 2017. So they have many years to run — the first, for the most expensive A330s, will begin to expire in 2026. Until then SriLankan Airlines is contractually liable for them.

Once the pandemic recedes and a vaccine is available, airline traffic will slowly recover. There will be plenty of airlines such as Emirates, Qatar, Singapore, Cathay etc, who will connect Sri Lanka to the world. The strong LCCs (Indigo, Air Arabia, Fly Dubai, Air Asia, Lion Air etc) will also provide regional connectivity.

There will be other privately funded airlines springing up to service the market too. FITS already has an operation running. Two start-ups, Spark Air and Fly Lankan, are advertising their intent. In my opinion, there is no need for the GOSL to waste public money on the airline business. It is far better if private enterprise is allowed to operate airlines based in the country than for the government to spend state funds.

It is a matter of the GOSL having to decide where the priorities lie. Propping up UL for another 3 to 5 years will cost somewhere in the region of USD 3 billion. The choice is up to the government. Will the money be better spent elsewhere, or should the national carrier continue to be subsidized? That’s a political choice.