first, AIB needs to finish building 4 A359s. then they could start work on 4 new ones, It would be great if UL manages to fund enough cash to get things going.

3U only leased those 4 x A359s from Aercap/ALC on long term lease (guessing 12 years) in 2018.

MSN1261 painted in SriLankan Livery but not possible to take photo as its still parked front of hangar in CHR. Heard test flight planned in Apr25 and delivery in May25. I requested UL for permission to see the aircraft but no reply yet. I might visit CHR if i get permission.

why is 1261 painted but not 1060? We had someone in this forum say that TEV does have painting.
what is the seat-config of the A332?

got that. It appears that I didn't do much research..

Hi everyone, seems like Bulgaria Air has begun SOF-SHJ-HRI services on their A319s and A320s, I think this is a new flight. I am not sure if this is a one off flight.
Can someone confirm for how long they will be in CMB for? thanks

I agree with Banuthev that UL needs to increase their fleet substantially to take advantage of Sri Lanka's geographical position and offer convenient connections. With the right fleet and added frequencies UL could become a major player on the Kangaroo route. I think UL could become a preferred choice for travelers over SQ, EK, QR etc., given our location, which translates into two equal 10-hour flight segments between Australia and Europe. Travelers will prefer that to the shorter flight and longer 14-hour segment the competitors offer. But the hard product needs to improve and be consistent, and the airport has to get a major upgrade.
UL should also focus on becoming the preferred airline for travel to the Maldives. Maybe a flight from North America would work if it made a stop in MLE before continuing to CMB. This would make UL unique among the competition. And they should look into reinstating the MLE stop for some of the European flights - travelers will be willing to pay a premium to fly non-stop to MLE rather than transferring in DXB or DOH.
I hope UL can increase their frequency to at least daily to SYD and NRT. (But I don't think the current Australian bilateral allows for an increase in flights?). It is a shame that LHR is going from 9 to 7/week this summer. Double daily to LHR would be ideal but getting slots will be a challenge.
Additional European destinations should be considered - ZRH and AMS? And given the diaspora, a flight to Toronto should also be evaluated. This could be an attractive option to the south Indian community in YYZ as well.
With the right management and access to capital, UL could easily double their fleet size and be profitable.

Hi everyone,
Good news EK will be deploying their new A359s on their EK655 to CMB soon, starting from 10th of March, after a delay of 3 months due to supply chain issues. EK will be the 2nd A350 operator at CMB after QR and SQ (SQ will join later this year).


​ A359.jpg

Hearing news that MSN 1060 and 1037, both A330-343 are cancelled due to aircraft having too much structural issues. MSN 1261, A330-243 might turn up somewhere during May'25.
UL is currently on the look out for B737, ATR, A330 and A350 aircraft.

very sad msn 1060 & 1037 are cancelled. Hope to see msn 1261 join UL. Any body know msn of rest of the upcoming two A330s?

Interesting that UL is considering adding 737s to its narrow body fleet. Seems like it would be very inefficient to have a small subfleet of Boeing aircraft. And the A320s are superior in most most aspects to the 737.

Agree, Both Airbus and Boeing have big backlogs, I was explaining, If UL orders new jets, with the expectation of receiving jets after 2030. Wet-leasing at least 2-4 jets from A359s or A339s is a good idea but need to study further. 8D did the same thing before they dry lease current A320s, (8D wet leased Thomas Cook A321 preighter for Cargo ops, and had the experience of operating an a320 jet)

Also, SriLankan has quite a bit of history with the A350s, so they are a bit hesitant to get them too as I also heard. But we never know.. And yes, good points stated above too.

Hi Banu,
As per my opinion and most heard people's choice for Business class is 1-2-1 configuration and no-doubt, its the ideal one, even the aircraft is B787 or A350. But, Most youtubers', frequent flyers' choice for the Economy class is 2-4-2 configuration, since window passenger or middle passenger has to pass only one person for aisle access. But however, 3-3-3 is the standard, more cost effective seating configuration for new widebody jets (B787, A350) even ANA has chosen 2-4-2 for some of their 787s.
No arguments, UL has to go with 3-3-3 economy config and most suitable 1-2-1 configuration , if goes for A350s.

I personally prefer colour schemes/pallet of current UL 333s business class, rather than Ex-UL A350s' white colour business class, same product (Zodiac Cirrus flat bed 1-2-​1 )but different colours. UL has chosen the same seat for economy (Safran Z300)

Even those Sichuan A350s have the UL decided Interiors, its very hard to get those jets because of that small, negligible reason, Lessors won't allow to transfer jets from 3U to UL, i think they leased for 12 years. After 12 years of flying, its not to get back those 4 A350 jets, because of Technical issues of jets, C check is pending and Interiors are outdated.

Better to Go with A330-900s Noh? Until, UL gets stronger in their balance sheet? lease should be 12 yrs dry lease.