Sri Lanka Aviation

The SriLankan Airlines is looking at investing extensively at the country’s second international airport in Hambantota.

http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/08/18/bus01.asp

Colombo - Zurich - Heathrow

Routeonline reporting ZRH adjustments by UL



Zurich service as a result increases from 2 to 3 weekly. Service resumption begins from 20DEC11.

Schedule:

UL549 CMB0645 – 1210ZRH1330 – 1415LHR 343 3
UL550 LHR1625 – 1855ZRH2015 – 1045+1CMB 343 3

Wow... good news .. so LHR will get double daily

Existing UL511/512 is going to be replaced by the new flight UL549/550 , Therefore frequency on LHR will be remaining the same as 13 weekly. ZRH-LHR-ZRH gets Local rights.

Winter 2011 Updates :

PS has dropped the plan of resuming flights to CMB;
KU is reducing CMB flights from five to four weekly;

Interestingly, UL also has local rights between ZRH and LHR. This seems to be something that they had since the 1980s..

Yes I thought the same. In 1980s, UL511/512 used to fly two or three weekly in CMB-DXB-ZRH-LGW on LH10s. I surprised that why UL did not use the flight number : UL511/512 for upcoming CMB-ZRH-LHR route. UL549 is a better flight number when ZRH use as a final destination.

Sri Lanka state carrier may acquire six Boeing-777s

http://www.lbo.lk/fullstory.php?nid=1811335904

UL needs to replace the A340s with 777s ASAP!

UL badly needs to replace the A340s. I flew on 4R-ADA MLE-CMB as UL510 on 15/8/2011. It's the oldest 343 in the fleet and while it's reasonably in good shape, UL should not continue with aircraft which are past their prime. The IFE system sucks, there's of course no AVOD, the OHB's are small and you can barely fit in a haversack, let alone a strolley bag ! I found the seats pretty uncomfortable too.

777s are the way to go for UL, the A343s have done their job for the airlne but are no longer useful in the changed scenario where competing airlines use new top of the line 777s with AVOD IFE, FFBs etc. The A330s are well suited for the medium capacity routes while if UL orders a mix of 77E's and 77W's these could cater to long haul higher capacity routes.

UL can really become a strong niche player. The SL Govt could also consider part privatization so that the airline stops depending on the Govt for money and bailouts all the time it makes losses. Air India is a 'shining example' of a huge-loss-making Govt carrier which is bleeding taxpayers in India of billions of Dollars every year....UL should not turn out to be the same for Sri Lanka.

BIA's domestic terminal to open up new travel options

http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2011/08/21/fea06.asp

please tell me what is the flight number from Bangkok to Guangzhou and time ETD and ETA

Srilankan Airlines
UL 882
Suvarnabhumi International (BKK), Bangkok, Thailand 13:10
Baiyun (CAN), Guangzhou, China 17:25
Non-stop
EQV 3:15
Wednesday
Friday
Sunday

Srilankan Airlines
UL 883
Baiyun (CAN), Guangzhou, China 18:40
Suvarnabhumi International (BKK), Bangkok, Thailand 20:10
Non-stop
EQV 2:30
Wednesday
Friday
Sunday

Sri Lanka state carrier to double flights to China

Sri Lanka's state-run SriLankan Airlines is doubling flights to China over the next two years and the booming sector is slated to bring up to 15 percent of the airlines' revenue, an official said.

The airline now flies ten times a week to China (including Hong Kong) which will be increased to 13 this year and 21 over the next two years. With growing affluence larger numbers of Chinese are travelling overseas.

http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/f...nid=1692637561

Those three extra weekly flights will likely go to HKG.

does this flight operate nonstop from cmb to hkg?