If MRE now has a J Class cabin, it must have been re-configured, recently because it was a single-cabin aircraft when it was with MJ (and all online records of this aircraft still show it as having 180 Y seats, only).

Anyway, it's good to know that it has been re-configured.

I assume that MRD is still with the 12+188 configuration that it had when it was with MJ... please let me know if I'm wrong.

I think it's not a good idea. They should use A330 A/C which they can carry cargo also
Otherwise they will loose this route for sure

I believe UL is planning to use new A321neo on nonstop flights to HKG from July ? Do you think UL will have sufficient cargo loads for operating A330 on four nonstop CMB-HKG flights ? CX already operating twice weekly B74F and Daily A330/B777 on the CMB-HKG route.

Any reasons why UL have to operate two BKK flights around the same time at 7am (from CMB TO BKK) and again 21pm (from BKK TO CMB) on Tue, We, Fr and Sun.

I think it would have been better move making Guangzhou flights as nonstop like they did with Hong Kong. Better to operate two weekly A321neo and two weekly A332 on CMB-CAN nonstop and two weekly A321neo and two weekly A333 on CMB-HKG nonstop. What do you think?

All MJ fleet configured with business class one year before it cease the operation. MJ clearly didn't operate as a LCC that's a secret of losses.

I think they want to utilize A330 on daily service to Bangkok. But now there are A330 service to Bangkok except on Day 1.

Then, it's strange that all of the online records about MRE showed it as an Economy-only aircraft (with 180 Y seats), even after it was transferred to UL.

According to SriLankan website, 4R-MRE have the seat config as 12J 150Y and 4R-MRD have 12J 188Y.

SriLankan Cargo to wet lease freighter

SriLankan Cargo is mulling on wet leasing a freighter aircraft to expand operations, SriLankan Airlines’ Cargo Head Chamara Ranasinghe said.

He said that cargo volumes are growing and they see a greater demand in the future as well. “Due to the pull out of Frankfurt and Paris we lost out from the cargo segment and we want to capture this back firstly through Code Share agreements with other airlines upto the Middle East and then connect to our network. Secondly we are looking at a separate cargo aircraft on a lease to intensify our operations,”he said.

He also said that today over US dollars 3 trillion of e commerce business is going out of China and they are also looking at taking a slice of this business through several synergies.

He also said that the cargo is a key area in the national carrier and they contribute around 10% of the revenue to Sri Lankan. “Our target is to increase this to 15% soon.” The freight handling arm of SriLankan Airlines, set a new record for the amount of cargo handled at the Cargo Centre of Colombo’s Bandaranaike International Airport with a massive total of 239,636 tonnes in 2016, a remarkable growth of 12.88% over the 212,277 of the previous year.



A330-200F??

My guess would be non-Airbus aircraft. That's a reason UL is planning to wetlease a freighter with ACMI instead of Drylease.

Haleef,

Above news say UL is going to wetlease a freighter for expanding the cargo network. Do you know which aircraft UL is planning to wetlease? Who is the owner of the aircraft? As you all know , UL is already operating a regional freighter services with wetleased single MD80F from Fitsair. Fitsair announced few years ago it will get second MD80F to their fleet. Any update?

Not very sure of this, but maybe an A330-200F or a MD82F?

Recently UL deployed A330 300 on Cmb Dhk , passenger load on that flight was about 60% .Because of larger cargo capacity , A330 300 was allocated , where A321 was sufficient to carry the passenger load . I think A 310 or B 767 300 would be a suitable option for Srilankan cargo

Current fleet update and lessors - Source:www.ch-aviation.com

1.JPG2.JPG3.JPG

Since UL is a all airbus fleet, i think the freighter will be airbus!

Is still our domestic airlines allowed to fly international routes?

Check the webpage was published in 2005