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Originally posted by Haleef
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Was talking to some UL crew at their Londom hotel 2 days ago, and they confirmed that 4R ADA was not flying these days, there was also some "speculation" that the damage sustained during a tail strike was at a time when a foriegn pilot was in control ! -
I thought 4R-ADA was fully owned by UL (as its an ex-AirLanka aircraft)Originally posted by Dave View PostComment
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during the EK/UL tie up days, i thnk in the last fiscal yr (2007/08) EK did a sale and leaseback of the 3 A343 (4R-ADA/B/C) which were owned till then by the airline (both under the Airlanka and Srilankan brand names).Originally posted by Aaqib View PostComment
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Some latest news :
Mattala: Planes come, nobody gets in or gets out - http://www.sundaytimes.lk/140202/new...out-82072.htmlMattala: Planes come, nobody gets in or gets out
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Questions are being asked why certain SriLankan Airlines flights continue to stop at Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) when there are no passengers embarking or disembarking. For instance, a Colombo-bound flight from Kuala Lumpur made a scheduled stop at MRIA on Thursday morning. Writing to the Sunday Times, a passenger on that aircraft said there was “no apparent reason” for the flight to have landed there.
“No one embarked or disembarked at Mattala,” he says, adding that all passengers were booked to Katunayake from Kuala Lumpur. “Was this just to keep the public informed that Mattala is still alive and alert?” he asks. SriLankan Airlines sources said this had been going on for some time. “Sometimes, flights just land and take off at Mattala with nobody getting down,” said one authoritative source, on condition of anonymity. “If there are passengers who do disembark, they usually stay in transit at the airport. It is only on rare occasions that anybody flies to Mattala on account of it being his or her final destination.”
Embarkations are also not numerous but President Mahinda Rajapaksa makes it a point to leave and enter the country through MRIA. “What we see mostly are passengers who are in transit because the airline chooses to route them that way,” said another source. “But this works for the interested parties because they are able to show international flight movements to and from MRIA,” he said. Among the SriLankan flights that go via Mattala are those to Trichy, Bangkok and Male.
“At the same time, SriLankan also operates direct flights to those destinations from Katunayake,” he continued. “This is a clear case of ferrying a passenger from point A to point B via point C without going directly to point B.” The Sunday Times was unable to get a full schedule of arrivals and departures at MRIA. The information published on its official website, www.mria.lk, has not been updated since November 25 last year.
The official website of the Airport and Aviation Services Ltd (AASL) does not carry a flight schedule for MRIA. The three international airlines currently operating to MRIA are SriLankan, Flydubai and Mihin. AASL Chairman Prasanna Wickramasuriya said he was unwell and referred the Sunday Times to MRIA CEO Derrick Karunaratne. Head of Airport Management H.S. Hettiarachchi also asked the Sunday Times to contact Mr. Karunaratne. However, despite several attempts the line was not connected to Mr. Karunaratne.
But SriLankan Airlines yesterday defended its decision to land at Mattala. “We operate to MRIA with multifaceted objectives,” Media Relations Manager Deepal V Perera said. “In terms of our operations to MRIA, we have found that 35-40 per cent of the foreign travellers who visit Sri Lanka travel to the southern and eastern parts of the country.”
“At the moment, the main constraint that they are faced with is that it takes a longer time to travel to these destinations via road,” he explained.
“SriLankan, having identified this factor, decided to enhance travel by air domestically by means of offering special destination packages in promoting MRIA as a gateway to the southern part of the country.”
“Secondly, we are also developing the MRIA as a regular travel destination encouraging visitors to use MRIA as a convenient gateway as it shortens the travel time,” he said. Mr. Perera said there was congestion at Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) during peak time. “Besides, we also see an increasing number of transit passengers arriving at BIA. This is causing more congestion at the BIA,” he said. “As a result, we are also experiencing flight delays which are not only causing inconvenience to travellers but also increasing our costs.”
“As a remedy for this we are looking forward to use MRIA as our transit hub, to give our passengers a better travel experience,” he said. “Finally in the future, we will be offering direct destination flights from MRIA on a regular basis with the objective of promoting MRIA as a gateway for Sri Lanka tourism.
Lankans avoid travel to crisis-hit Thailand - http://www.sundaytimes.lk/140202/bus...and-81584.htmlLankans avoid travel to crisis-hit Thailand
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Sri Lankan travellers are seen avoiding Thailand owing to the political crisis there and Malaysia is becoming the next best option for leisure travel, industry officials said.
Suresh Mendis, CEO of Classic Travels, one of the largest outbound travel companies, said travel to Thailand has virtually come to a standstill in the past 3-4 weeks.
Thailand is the most popular destination for Sri Lankan leisure travellers and incentive groups, according to VMS Travels & Tours CEO Sasi Ganeshan.
Mr. Ganeshan said at least there are 3,000-4,000 departures per week to Bangkok from Colombo with at least 10 weekly flights operated by SriLankan Airlines, Thai Airways and Cathy Pacific.
However G.T. Jayaseelan, SriLankan Airlines Chief Marketing Officer, said they have not seen a drop in departures to Thailand. “But we see a drop in the Chinese going to Bangkok (from Beijing through SriLankan connections),” he said.
For several weeks, Thailand has been rocked by protests, some which have turned violent, demanding that the ruling party steps down. Parliamentary elections are to be held this month.
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Update, per Australian Business Traveller: Oneworld says that SriLankan Airlines will not be officially joining the airline alliance on March 1st, despite yesterday’s confirmation from SriLankan’s own PR department of that date.
Originally posted by CalgaryLankan View Postairlineroute reporting SriLankan Airlines appears to be joining oneWorld Alilance on 01MAR14, based on the airline's flight information in the GDS
One more news item;
http://www.ausbt.com.au/srilankan-ai...d-on-march-1stComment
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Sri Lankan don't have the proper standard to join one worldOriginally posted by Serendib View PostComment
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More lies in the skies with SriLankan Airline
Instructions were given to divert to Singapore a scheduled SriLankan Airlines direct flight from Kuala Lumpur to Colombo whilst the Airbus A-330 aircraft was on the ground in Malaysia, the Sunday Times can reveal today. That was how Captain Lakshman Fernando, commanding the flight touched down at Changi International Airport in Singapore. The aircraft was on the ground for half an hour to enable only SriLankan Airlines Chairman Nishantha Wickremesinghe, his wife and a family friend to board the flight. The Sunday Times can confirm that no other passengers boarded this flight and it took off after re-fuelling.
These revelations came as Mr. Wickremesinghe sent “a clarification” to the main story on this page last week. It reported that diverting an aircraft on a scheduled flight from one country to yet another is an exclusive privilege enjoyed by Heads of State or Government or if there is a patient who requires immediate hospitalisation. Reacting to our disclosure, an airline industry official added, “that too in circumstances where there is a justifiable emergency.” However, in this instance the diversion was purely to pick up Mr. Wickremesinghe, his wife and a family friend who were on a non-official visit to Singapore.
Now to what the “clarification” says: “SriLankan Airlines hereby seeks a clarification for the story published in page two of The Sunday Times, January 26, 2014 titled “Waste of Paradise by SriLankan Chairman.” ”SriLankan Airlines operates two daily flights between Singapore and Colombo. On January 22nd, 2014, flight UL 306 scheduled to depart Colombo for Singapore was delayed due to unforeseen technical reasons. As a result, the flight which was originally scheduled to depart Colombo at 0100 hrs departed at 0447 hrs with a delay of three hours and forty seven minutes. Accordingly, the return flight which was originally scheduled to depart Singapore at 1000 hrs Singapore time was rescheduled to depart at 1200 hrs.
“In the past, SriLankan Airlines had operated circular flights with the routine — Colombo/ Kuala Lumpur / Singapore/ Colombo or vice versa which were later changed two separate flights — Colombo/Singapore/Colombo and Colombo/Kuala Lumpur/Colombo on regular basis. ”On the said date, as the Singapore flight was delayed, SriLankan Airlines decided to operate the Kuala Lumpur flight which was en route to Kuala Lumpur as Colombo/Kuala Lumpur/Singapore/Colombo to uplift the Colombo bound Singapore passengers with the available capacity.
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It looks like job half done. Some pages are pointing to old website.Originally posted by 4R-ALA View PostComment
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oh really, i didn't have the time to check the new look thoroughly ..............Originally posted by CalgaryLankan View PostComment
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New N/S flights to China:
Good job on getting non-stop flights.. but the timings dont suite me.. im a business traveller and I prefer midnight departures and need to have my full day at work.. these timings are ideal for tourists... i guess.. ill have to use SQ, MH, TG and CX for the time being..
Even these flights do not connect from those departing from SEZ and get into CMB at like i believe at 2300 hrs... (correct me if im wrong)Comment
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...Later this year, SriLankan Airlines will become a member of the oneworld alliance, a club of 13 airlines which collaborate by selling tickets on each other’s flights. “Right now we are servicing 62 destinations. Overnight it will be close to 800 destinations,” says Mr Chandrasena. His airline already has codeshare agreements with three oneworld members, S7 Airlines (from Russia), Malaysia Airlines and Royal Jordanian Airlines. He is confident that such partnerships will be extended to other members—hopefully including industry goliaths British Airways, American Airlines and Cathay Pacific.
The easier it becomes for European, American and Asian holidaymakers to fly to Colombo, the more Sri Lanka benefits, irrespective of whether they arrive on a SriLankan Airlines plane. Mr Chandrasena reckons that inbound flight bookings have an economic multiplier of eight. This, he thinks, puts the financial losses of his airline into perspective. “SriLankan Airlines itself contributes about 2.2% of GDP,” he estimates. “As more and more tourists are coming, we have a more tourism-dependent economy.”
Increasing the number of direct flights to the island is therefore crucial for Sri Lanka, and teaming up with oneworld marks a cost-effective step forward. But the flag carrier is also looking beyond its own borders. It already operates more than 80 flights a week to eight Indian cities. If it can increase those and, say, add extra flights to the Maldives, it thinks Colombo could become a hub for the sub-region.
More ambitiously, Mr Chandrasena wants the capital to become a bridging point between China and Africa. “We see major high-volume traffic flows between Asia and Africa, and especially China and Africa,” he says. “From a geographical point of view, the shortest route is above Sri Lanka.” The jury is still out on this latter goal. SriLankan Airlines may serve four points in China, but it serves none in Africa (notwithstanding a new route to the Seychelles, which is offered by Mihin Lanka, its low-cost affiliate). Mr Chandrasena is keen to add one or two big African hubs to his network, but he admits that a local partner will be required to “fan out across the continent”. Wooing this partner may prove tricky. Ethiopian Airlines already flies to four Chinese destinations and is adding a fifth in March; Kenya Airways has its own partnerships with two Chinese carriers; and South African Airways is likely to favour Etihad, with which it has signed a codeshare agreement, to improve its connections with China...Comment
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http://aviationvoice.lk/?p=7748
guys take a look at this, dont knw whether gonna happen or not but apparently TUI grp gonna set up offices at HRI so six possible 787's to serve HRI it seems....Comment
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It says "negotiating"....... means trying hard. Its better news than "Mattala: Planes come, nobody gets in or gets out" story.Originally posted by 4R-ALA View PostComment
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