Which aircraft is going to be operated on this route?

Great news that a second western European carrier is starting service to Colombo. Timings for the Swiss flights are interesting. The flight that departs Zurich on Sunday arrives in Colombo on Monday morning. However the next departure for Zurich is on Thursday (if I am reading the schedule correctly). Will that aircraft be on ground in Colombo for 4 days? Isn't it costly to leave an aircraft idle for that long - I guess its to give the crew adequate rest? The flight that departs ZRH on Friday has a more reasonably timed stop in CMB, arriving at 8:20 Saturday morning and departing around noon.

Emirates yesterday announced the resumption of its Colombo-Male service starting 1 September.

The daily service between the two cities will be an extension of its Dubai-Male flight EK652 to Colombo, with the return flight EK653 operating from Colombo to Dubai via Male. Emirates flight EK652 will depart Dubai at 09:45 daily, arrive in Male at 15:00 and depart the Maldivian capital at 16:35 for Colombo, arriving in Sri Lanka’s commercial capital at 18:30. The return flight EK653 will depart Colombo at 20:35, arrive in Male at 21:35 and depart for Dubai at 23:00 to arrive at Emirates’ home base at 02:00 the following day, local time. The airline will operate all flights utilising its wide-body Boeing 777 aircraft in three-class configuration.

By mid-October, Emirates will also increase its services between Male and Dubai to four daily flights.

Emirates has been gradually rebuilding its global network, in a safe and sustainable manner and has resumed passenger services to over 120 passenger destinations, allowing travellers to conveniently connect to the Americas, Europe, Africa, Middle East, and Asia Pacific via Dubai.

A longstanding contributor to the growth of tourism and the export industries of the two countries, Emirates has operated flights to Sri Lanka and the Maldives for 35 and 34 years respectively, and has also played a key role in the transport of vaccines and other essentials needed to combat the spread of the pandemic in the region.

UL is adding a second weekly flight to Nairobi in October. Good to see the national carrier expanding its footprint in Africa.

Guys..
Need help on cargo flights schedule to Colombo, looking forward to getting down a machine via air freight from Italy and supplier is saying there are NO freight flights (cargo) are scheduled for CMB for the few more months to come... can somebody help here with planned schedule from Qatar, Turkish Air, CathePacific etc... (what I'm looking for airfreight from Italy to Colombo)

is it an oversized item ?

SriLankan Airlines to resume direct flights to Paris thrice a week

SriLankan Airlines, the flag carrier of the island, is set to operate direct flights to Paris, France, thrice a week every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from November 1, an official said.

Airbus A330-300 aircraft is a 269 economy and 28 business class seater with a total flying time of 11 hours and 25 minutes.

Flight schedules are as follows:

Flight UL563 is scheduled to depart Colombo at 00:35 hrs and arrive in Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport at 07:30 hrs.

The return flight UL564 is scheduled to depart Paris on the same day at 14:30 hrs and arrive in Colombo at 05:20 hrs the next day.

Good News! do you think there is a demand for operating both 3 weekly SriLankan and 3 weekly Air France on the Colombo-Paris route?

Great news! Flight timings are ideal for onward connections to/from North America. Hopefully UL will partner with SkyTeam, especially Delta, to codeshare to destinations in the US.

yes.. it is

ok ... i guess you managed to sort it out ?

SriLankan Airlines Airbus A330-300 4R-ALL visit to Auckland (AKL/NZAA) New Zealand




https://twitter.com/flysrilankan/sta...61466555691008

@flysrilankan operated its first flight to #Auckland, New Zealand from #Sydney, Australia today marking another milestone in the Airline's history of #cargo operations

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Source: https://twitter.com/flysrilankan

Fly Lankan Asia low-cost airline takes wing in January


A US-based investor has invested US$10 million in operating Sri Lanka’s third international carrier, Fly Lankan Asia set to take wing as a low-cost regional airline commencing January 2022.

Fly Lankan Asia is set to operate as a regional carrier to destinations like (2-3 cities in) India, Maldives, Indonesia (2-3 cities), Malaysia (2 cities), Myanmar and Dubai, the airline’s CEO Dr. Arosha Fernando told the Business Times. The airline will fly out of Ratmalana and Katunayake to these destinations and also use Mattala as a transit operation.

The airline will primarily focus on cargo traffic, it was pointed out as there continues to be higher demand than SriLankan Airlines and Fits Aviation, a cargo carrier, are unable to cater to, it was pointed out.

Commencing January 1, Fly Lankan Asia will start its operations by bringing down a Boeing 737 aircraft from Kenya that could accommodate 160-190 passengers and five more aircraft that are still under discussion to being purchased, Dr. Fernando explained.

The airline will also look at carrying out operations on specific routes and types of traffic like the group travel of religious communities on the Jakarta-Mattala-Jeddah route that will provide them with the opportunity to have a special kitchen at Mattala to prepare food for these types of passengers as well, it was noted. And also select Goa in India as a direct destination to fly to catering to the increasing Catholic community flying there, he said.

As part of the second stage of the operations starting March, the airline intends on providing an easy passage from Ratmalana to Palaly in Jaffna and return via Batticaloa for which one aircraft with 20-30 seating capacity will be allocated. Despite the shutdowns experienced by other airlines, Fly Lankan Asia believes that this is a great opportunity to purchase aircraft and operate them and although they are a low-cost carrier, “we will not cut corners but as an organization, we will be an efficient model,” Dr. Fernando explained.

With about 50 low-cost carriers operating in the Asian region, Fly Lankan Asia will be joining the stiff competition and in this respect, it was noted that “we are quite confident that we can tap the market, as we have a good bargaining power to purchase aircraft” and experience in the aviation sector as the main investor already has about five carriers under his wing, the CEO stated. The business model that the airline operates on is as a lean and mean organization in adopting the model of a low-cost carrier, Dr. Fernando said.

In their longer-term plans they hope to move into operating direct flights to destinations like Australia, Europe and the US, the CEO said.

Currently, there are plans in establishing a flying school as well, he noted adding that Sri Lanka is already producing quite a high number of skilled people for the industry and this new venture will create more opportunities for Sri Lankans.

Dr. Fernando has several caps to his reputation from being a film producer having produced 17 films, five teledramas and two-stage plays and a total of 24 productions to his credit during the past eight years; to have 28 years of experience in senior management in the local and international business field and currently the chairman and Managing Director of five other companies in Sri Lanka.