Sri Lanka Aviation

I think ADA is one of the older A340s in the fleet. Wonder what happened?

More airlines enter booming Sri Lanka

More international airlines are flying into Colombo to take advantage of Sri Lanka's booming tourism, while new local operators are also emerging for internal travel.

Malaysia’s AirAsia is making a comeback to Colombo, after having suspended operations in February this year, citing commercial reasons relating to flight operations and aircraft availability. It hopes to restart flights through AirAsia X possibly in August.

According to Ranjeewa Senaratne, AirAsia’s sales and marketing manager in Colombo, the airline has applied for permission to resume flights and is awaiting a response from the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka.

Similarly, Maldivian Airlines, the Maldives’ main domestic carrier with few international flights, will start thrice-weekly flights to Colombo effective August 7 from Gan International Airport.

Maldives’ economic development minister, Ahmed Mohamed, said increasing trade and tourism ties between the two countries led to the decision for the national carrier to have flights to Colombo. The airline now flies to local islands as well as Chennai, Dhaka and Trivandrum on the international sector.

New Sri Lankan domestic carrier, Cinnamon Air, has begun daily flights to several inland destinations since last week, while some other new domestic carriers have applied for licenses.

http://ttgasia.com/article.php?article_id=21334

It's always nice to see more flying colours in Colombo! I am not sure about AirAsia but Maldivian Airlines listing Colombo in the Airline Inventory System. I heard Air Arabia resuming Mattala from August ?

We need to have more European Airlines in Colombo.

Btw how is British Airways load factor to Colombo?

As per Amadeus and Galilelo The load factor seems to be very bad,
Very low Yield Only from MLE there is a load factor but still its 55% Empty seats.

UL is doing v well on CMB-LHR also EK/QR/EY/Oman air special offers and Best Entertainment systems.

Maldivian Airlines operates on Mondays and Fridays , starting from 12 August 2013. Monday Flight schedule - Q2940 departing from Male' at 17:10 and landing in Colombo at 19:10 then Q2941 departing from Colombo at 20:10 and going to Gan Island landing at 21:35. Friday Flight schedule : Q2942 departing from Male at 19:10 and landing in Colombo at 21:30 via Gan island then Q2943 departing from Colombo at 22:30 and landing in Male at 23:30. Aircraft ; A320.

Maldivian 'can't compete' with SriLankan

Please note Maldivian is expanding their network as they announced nonstop flights to China from July 2013. On the other hand, there are so many Airlines are operating to Male' from China. Shame SriLankan Airlines still hasn't started nonstop flights to China and Hong Kong???

true said @banuthev. i eagerly await UL's non stop services to all mainland chinese routes (PEK, PVG and CAN). i'm not sure if UL should fly to HKG non stop, but they should at least increase HKG frequency coz 3x week to HKG is not enough.

does anyone have an idea if UL is launching services to Chengdu in China plus Seoul in S. Korea??

Awaiting since 2004 till UL fly nonstop to hkg so far nothing only news. Hopes are given up...

Well said! SriLankan Airlines can attract Chinese Tourists who fly to the Maldives. Also there is a Good demand from Pakistan. I occasionally fly on Colombo-Karachi sector, so I know there are so many Pakistani students are transiting in Colombo for China flights. I would say SriLankan should split BKK-China route and focus on growing market like China with nonstop flights. They can use double daily A320s to BKK.

As far as I know, SriLankan Airlines is planning to use 6 A333s (235t) for medium-haul and long-haul (less than 9:30hrs) due to it's range limitation. 7 A332s will be used for long-haul until 7 A359s delivered.

so does that mean UL A333 won't be able to service LHR coz isnt CMB-LHR like 10 to 12 hrs??

and yet again true say @Banuthev, one of my Pakistani batch mates stated that the only way Pakistanis can connect to the far east from karachi is through UL or TG. apparently SQ, CX and MH no longer serves karachi. plus most pakistani's prefer UL over TG due to prices and connectivity and of course service but TG services are way standardized.

so yes, UL should fly non stop to all chinese routes, which includes HKG, but they should add Seoul and Chengdu. beyond that i feel that by placing UL A320's to SIN and KUL is utter rubbish, coz those routes should be served purely with A332 and A343, (coz UL used to fly all long haul a/c to SIN and KUL) and i have no idea why they downgraded on capacity...!!!

I spoke to a couple of friends (cabin crew) today while they are in London, the incident is being hushed up, and they have been told NOT to talk about it !, obviously someone is trying to hide something ?