Sri Lanka Aviation

[Serendib]

Hi, no idea of anything yet. Sorry.



EY operates both 787 and 321 on different days. Sometimes sudden equipment change. Probably the demand is high, so they decided to switch it to 787 then.
Also noticed that Edelweiss is going to fly direct ZRH - CMB and CMB - MLE instead of ZRH - MLE - CMB. They'll be flying till May 04th of this year.
Timings also have changed and they'll be operating 2 flights a week (Sunday and Wednesday) from mid November instead of 1 flight on Thursday.

Wow 🥰 I was surprised when they added Colombo in Month May in their flight booking. Any reason for route change ZRH>CMB>MLE?

Wed. 17:15 07:45 (+1d)
Sun.18:20 08:50 (+1d)
Flight WK 064
Codeshare LX 8064
Aircraft type Airbus A343

Mon. 10:20 16:40
Thu. 09:15 15:35
Flight WK 065
Codeshare LX 8065
Aircraft type Airbus A343

[Aaqib]

Happy to hear about FitsAir’s expansion plans
Agree that Bangalore, Singapore and Bangkok will probably be on the cards as new destinations
However with just two aircraft in their fleet, I highly doubt they’d go with two Far East destinations

I recall that Jetstar were to begin CMB-SIN but never materialized due to COVID

TRZ has quite a lot of demand too which can ideally be served by their ATR via. JAF

I do feel that FitsAir should enhance connectivity to Indian Destinations
Best way forward is via. the Indian Market, with a regional focus for Optimal Aircraft Utilization

MAA 2X Daily
BLR 5X Weekly
CCU & HYD 3-4X Weekly (Currently do not have direct connectivity, previously served by UL)

[banuthev]

Happy to hear about FitsAir’s expansion plans
Agree that Bangalore, Singapore and Bangkok will probably be on the cards as new destinations
However with just two aircraft in their fleet, I highly doubt they’d go with two Far East destinations

I recall that Jetstar were to begin CMB-SIN but never materialized due to COVID

TRZ has quite a lot of demand too which can ideally be served by their ATR via. JAF

I do feel that FitsAir should enhance connectivity to Indian Destinations
Best way forward is via. the Indian Market, with a regional focus for Optimal Aircraft Utilization

MAA 2X Daily
BLR 5X Weekly
CCU & HYD 3-4X Weekly (Currently do not have direct connectivity, previously served by UL)

Hi Aaqib Haleef, How many aircraft are in Fitsair current fleet? I thought FitsAir have 3 x A320s (EXQ, EXR, EXS)

Can you please confirm?

UL is already flying to HYD.

[banuthev]

Hi, no idea of anything yet. Sorry.

EY operates both 787 and 321 on different days. Sometimes sudden equipment change. Probably the demand is high, so they decided to switch it to 787 then.
Also noticed that Edelweiss is going to fly direct ZRH - CMB and CMB - MLE instead of ZRH - MLE - CMB. They'll be flying till May 04th of this year.
Timings also have changed and they'll be operating 2 flights a week (Sunday and Wednesday) from mid November instead of 1 flight on Thursday.

Hi rami @Haleef,

Nice to hear! I wonder if WK have demand for flying year-round flight between ZRH and CMB? There are plenty of Sri Lankan communities are in Switzerland.

[Haleef]

Hi Aaqib Haleef, How many aircraft are in Fitsair current fleet? I thought FitsAir have 3 x A320s (EXQ, EXR, EXS)

Can you please confirm?

UL is already flying to HYD.

A320-232 - 4R-EXQ (All white).
A320-232 - 4R-EXR (Fits C/S).
A320-232 - 4R-EXS (All white).

ATR-72 - 4R-EXN.
Cessna 208B - 4R-EXO (Owned by DP Aviation, operated by FitsAir).

Cessna 152 - 4R-FAA.
Cessna 152 - 4R-FAB.
Cessna 150 - Probably 4R-FAC (Inducted newly into the training fleet somewhere last week).

[rami]

Hi rami @Haleef,

Nice to hear! I wonder if WK have demand for flying year-round flight between ZRH and CMB? There are plenty of Sri Lankan communities are in Switzerland.

I'm guessing thats not the only reasson, since the most are Tamil family and only travel when there are summer holidays in school. Sri Lanka is also for Swiss people a trend to go. Mostly in the winter months durring saison in southern part of Sri Lanka. But Edelweiss Air is also benefit from Swiss to offer transit in Zurich. Guess from there is the most demand comming

[Serendib]

SriLankan Airlines from mid-July 2023 intends to restore additional frequencies to East Asia, including service to Japan and Mainland China. Planned increase as follows.

Colombo – Beijing Capital eff 17JUL23 Increase from 2 to 3 weekly, A330-200 operating
Colombo – Guangzhou eff 15JUL23 Increase from 2 to 3 weekly, A330-200 operating
Colombo – Shanghai Pu Dong eff 17JUL23 Increase from 2 to 3 weekly, A330-200 operating
Colombo – Tokyo Narita eff 15JUL23 Increase from 3 to 4 weekly, A330-300 operating

Routesonline

[Hasan1612]

SV and KU up to November no schedule

why still we couldn’t get soudhi jiddah to srilanka flight we suffer we don’t have direct flights need to consider

[Serendib]

Singapore Airlines to increase flights to Colombo

Singapore Airlines will increase its frequency to Colombo from the current four times a week to daily flights from October.

The Airline last week upgraded the aircraft by launching the Boeing B787-10 Dreamliner for flights on the Colombo and Singapore route. Constructed using lightweight composite materials, the 68-metre B787-10 is the longest variant of Boeing’s Dreamliner range.

With exceptional operating efficiency and advanced technology, the B787-10 aircraft is also environmentally friendly with a small carbon footprint.

Singapore Airlines’ Boeing 787-10s are fitted with 337 seats across two classes (36 lie-flat seats in Business Class on 1-2-1 seating configuration and 301 seats in Economy Class on 3-3-3 seating configuration) and with additional cargo capacity.

https://www.sundayobserver.lk/2023/0...lights-colombo

SQ on slow but steady road to recovery.
How many SQ flights operated pre-pandemic?

[Serendib]

Sri Lanka has secured a $2.9bn (£2.3bn) bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as it faces its worst economic crisis since independence.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65010560

"Foreign minister Ali Sabry told the BBC the government will raise funds by restructuring state-owned enterprises and privatising the national airline."

Any front runners?

[Serendib]

Any front runners?

Russian company may be a buyer in this deal? 😬

Sri Lanka plans to sell SriLankan Airlines, buyer may be from Russia - minister

02.04.23 09:45 Company news
RIA NewsRIA News

MOSCOW, April 2 - RIA Novosti. The authorities of Sri Lanka plan to sell the national carrier SriLankan Airlines, the buyer may be from Russia, the country's Minister of Transport Bandula Gunawardana said in an interview with RIA Novosti.

"Yes, I can confirm that the Sri Lankan authorities are planning to sell SriLankan Airlines, but a buyer has not yet been found. There are many business opportunities here, and the buyer could very well be any Russian company," Gunawardana said.

The Minister also noted that the country's authorities want to find a good buyer for the carrier. He also explained why SriLankan Airlines does not fly to Russia now: because of insurance problems.

"The airline has problems with insurance: as soon as they solve it, they will try to resume flights to Russia. I think this will happen in the future.

https://www.finam.ru/publications/it...20230402-0945/

[Ihsanr]

SQ on slow but steady road to recovery.
How many SQ flights operated pre-pandemic?

They operated 10 flight a week before the pandemic, 7 night flights and 3 day flights so it’s not actually an increased frequency to what it was 3 years ago

[skyline]

Russian company may be a buyer in this deal? 😬

Maybe Russia is trying to make CMB a transit point for Southeast Asia?

[marciano]

Maybe Russia is trying to make CMB a transit point for Southeast Asia?

Not China?? Anyway, both your new motherland!

[banuthev]

Not China?? Anyway, both your new motherland!

I wonder why Russia is keen buy debt ridden Airline?