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why on earth would UL fly to MEL using an A320 and that too with stopover in Darwin. MEL is home to large srilankan expatriate community. as per the 2007 census if i'm not wrong there were 400,000 srilankans in melbourne alone. Australia is a great market for UL.Comment
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Source: indiatodaySri Lankan Airline flight has narrow escape as two tyres burst on landing at Delhi's IGi airport:
Passengers onboard a Sri Lankan Airline plane had a miraculous escape today when two tyres of the aircraft burst after landing at the IGI airport here. The incident took place at around 6.55 PM when Sri Lankan Airline flight (UL 195), with over 70 passengers and crew onboard from Colombo, landed after second attempt, airport sources said. The pilots had aborted their first attempt of landing due to turbulence caused by the crosswinds at the airport and the air traffic control tower asked them to take a go-around for the second attempt, they said. As soon as the flight landed and was on taxiway, the pilots messaged the ATC tower about some technical problem saying the brakes of the aircraft had failed. A team of Delhi International Airport Limited officials were sent to tow the aircraft to the terminal building, but after reaching there they found that two rear tyres of the Boeing 737 plane had burst, the sources said. As towing the aircraft in that state was not possible, the passengers, who all were safe, and baggage were offloaded at the taxiway itself and taken in buses to the terminal building, they said. With the aircraft stuck on the taxiway, the flight movement at the airport was affected and the taxiway was closed for operations and aircraft had to take detour to reach the terminal. The airline was getting a new set of wheels and tyres and then the aircraft would be towed to the terminal, sources said.Comment
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400,000 people livin in Melbourne doesn't mean everyone wants to make a visit back to SL. Some of them probably did'nt visit SL after they left durin the civil war!!!! UL is probably targeting business travelers and Lankan tourists livin in SL. An A320 with stopover and thrice weekly flights would make a lot of sense rather than an A340 or A330 filled with about 70-100 passengers!!!!!Comment
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Are you sure there are 400k Sri Lankans in Mel?
So UL is ready to compete against SQ, CX, TG, MH and EK
and I hope for all the Oz Sri Lankans who want to buy
Tax free goods to take back home (back to OZ) UL will negotiate special GST rate with GOSL. so they do not need a stopover in Singapore to buy electronic goods.Comment
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Air Asia X operating its A330 to Colombo
Malaysia’s Air Asia is aiming to make a comeback to Colombo through its subsidiary, Air Asia X with flights possibly starting in August.
The airline has applied for permission and is currently discussing with the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka to commence flights to Colombo, Air Asia Sales and Marketing Manager Ranjeewa Senaratne told the Business Times.
Air Asia X is a subsidiary of Air Asia Bhd of Malaysia and was launched to operate long haul flights but has now added destinations on other routes including Japan, China, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Kathmandu and the next would be Colombo.
The number of frequencies the carrier would initially operate on the Colombo-Kuala Lumpur-Colombo route would depend on clearance from authorities, the official explained.
He observed that the airline would look at operating its bigger aircraft A330s on this route.
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australia is a huge market for UL, infact most of the srilankan who shuttle between Australia and Colombo use either SQ, CX, EK and many other far eastern carriers that fly into CMB. and FYI, most of the srilankan expatriate community in Australia are not refugees or people who have fled the country due the civil war, most of them do travel to SL on regular basis, and this is quoted through people who live in MEL whom i personally know.Comment
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As I stated before, merely filling up an aeroplane doesn't equate to profit. Australian Sri Lankans are generally very price conscious and generally select a flight based on its price. It would be very easy for CX, SQ, QF/EK and now AirAsia (as well as others) to generally undercut UL on price due to their size and scale. Therefore others have speculated before that the route is low yielding.
However if they can make the Melbourne route profitable then it would be worthwhile flying there. Maybe they could expand their routes into India and target Indian travellers to gain additional travellers?Last edited by lordvader; 30-06-2013, 05:59 AM.Comment
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