SriLankan Airlines flight UL 605 which was delayed in Melbourne, Australia for 30 hours due to a mechanical failure, has taken off and will land at Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) in Katunayake tomorrow morning (April 17), a spokesman for the airline said.

Manager of Corporate Communications at SriLankan Airlines, Deepal Perera emphasized that the 06 engineers of SriLankan Airlines who left for Melbourne Airport last night (April 15) have repaired and restored the aircraft.

Accordingly, the flight which was scheduled to arrive in Sri Lanka at 12.30 a.m. on Monday (April 17), along with 300 passengers onboard, will reach the BIA at around 09.30 a.m. tomorrow, he said.

SriLankan Airlines flight delayed in Melbourne due to mechanical failure to reach BIA tomorrow (adaderana.lk)

Russia and Sri Lanka to consider possibility of Yekaterinburg-Colombo service. Sri Lanka's Embassy in Russia adviser Chamila Jayaratna said work is being conducted on the possibility of launching nonstop Yekaterinburg-Colombo service (TASS, 15-Apr-2023).

SriLankan Airlines forced to ground five aircraft

SriLankan Airlines has been forced to ground five of its aircraft for several months due to the lack of engines and spare parts, Ceylon Today reliably learns.

The state-of-the-art Airbus A320neo and A321neo aircraft joined the national carrier post-2017. The A320neo can carry 150 passengers while the A321neo can accommodate 188 passengers.

The registrations of these aircraft are 4R-ANA, 4R-ANB, 4R-AND, 4R-ANE, and 4R-ANF.

Chairman of SriLankan Airlines Independent Workers’ Union Janaka Wijayapathirathna told the media that the root cause of this issue is operating six different aircraft types, which makes sourcing spares a nightmare.

“If the airline followed a proper business plan, it won’t have to face such an unfortunate situation. Even major players like Emirates operate only two to three aircraft types,” he said.

Wijayapathirathna added that the national airline is facing huge losses as a result of grounding aircraft. “We are compelled to cut back on profitable flights due to a shortage of aircraft. Compounding the issue, the lease payment on these grounded aircraft amounts to USD 350,000 to USD 400,000.”

The union leader urged the Government to draw up a proper business plan for the national carrier to save it from rack and ruin. “There is an ongoing debate about privatising the airline, but if this situation continues there won’t be an airline left to privatise,” he stressed.

Source: Ceylon Today