SriLankan Airlines increases flights to London Heathrow Airport

SriLankan Airlines will be increasing the frequency of flights to London Heathrow Airport from 7 to 9 weekly , effective 27 October 2018.

Currently, SriLankan's 7 weekly flights are departing Colombo at 13:05hrs and arriving in London at 20:00hrs and the return flight from London departing at 21:30hrs and arriving in Colombo at 12:45hrs.

SriLankan has revised the flight times to London and going to operate the additional seasonal flights on Saturdays & Sundays for European Winter season.

All SriLankan's London flights are operated onboard state of art brand new Airbus A330-343 aircraft.

Winter 2018 Flight Schedule

CMB-LHR- 02:20-08:40-UL505-AIRBUS A333 - SAT.SUN
CMB-LHR- 12:50-19:10-UL501-AIRBUS A333 - DAILY

LHR-CMB-12:35-04:35-UL506-AIRBUS A333 - SAT.SUN
LHR-CMB-20:40-12:40-UL502-AIRBUS A333 - DAILY

nope...more importantly cardinal

What about the EPF/ETF money poured into Mihin Lanka? All these losses have been absorbed by SriLankan as well.

These are crimes against the people of Sri Lanka. Everyday more are uncovered.

When is there going to be accountability?

APATA seeks Udaan to save Colombo flight

The AP Air Travellers Association (APATA) has appealed to Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and the Minister for IT Nara Lokesh to initiate urgent measures to prevent withdrawal of the Vizag – Colombo SriLankan flight.

“We have represented the matter to the Chief Minister and the IT Minister seeking bailing out of the international service by bringing it under the International Udaan scheme, launched by the Government of India, recently,” APATA representative O. Naresh Kumar toldThe Hinduon Saturday.

Government of AP has already launched the International Udaan schemes to introduce two new routes from Vijayawada to Singapore. We have requested the Chief Minister to extend the same benefit to SriLankan airlines to prevent withdrawal of the service and the Chief Minister’s Office responded positively to our demand, Mr. Kumar said.

Quoting cargo sources, Mr. Naresh said that the SriLankan flight was the main airline to carry full load of cargo, both import and export, from Vizag. Now, the existing exporters and importers would be left with no choice but to use alternative modes like surface transport, which could hit air exports and imports from Vizag. The airline has stopped booking of cargo from Oct 28, he said and appealed to the MP K. Haribabu, who is also Chairman of Airports Advisory Committee to impress upon the SriLankan to continue their service.

SLCC to supply cashew nuts to SriLankan Airlines

Sri Lanka Cashew Corporation (SLCC) will supply cashew nuts to SriLankan airlines from next month, SLCC Chairman Damsiri Bandara Karunaratne said today.

Quality of the cashew nuts served on SriLankan flights came up for scrutinity after President Maithripala Sirisena remarked on the quality of the cashew nuts served to him on a Colombo-bound flight.

EPF buys Sri Lanka loss-making airline shares without research, payment before approval: inquiry

The Employees' Provident Fund Department of Sri Lanka's Central Bank had bought shares in loss-making SriLankan Airlines for 500 million rupees in 2010 without research to back the decision and money had been paid weeks before gaining board approval, an official revealed at a commission of inquiry.

EPF Department Superintendent Nalini Bandara testifying at a Presidential Commission of Inquiry, said that the retirement funds of the private sector workers, entrusted to the Central Bank, had been released without approval from the Monetary Board of Sri Lanka.

Bandara said the Investment Committee of the EPF Department was authorized to take only some investment decisions by itself, which had to be ratified with the Monetary Board.

Investments of EPF funds in shares of unlisted companies like SriLankan Airlines required Monetary Board approval to go ahead, she said.



SriLankan Airlines cash-strapped even after capital injections: inquiry

Sri Lanka's ex-Treasury Secretary had stopped SriLankan Airlines from turning bonds given as a capital injection to cash for spending, and limited the airline to using annual interest as a subsidy, a commission of inquiry heard.

The loss-making airline also could not use the bonds as collateral to get a loan, a SriLankan airline official said.

Head of Financial Management Yasantha Dissanayake, testifying at a Presidential Commission of Inquiry, said that Treasury Secretary Jayasundera had directed to issue Treasury Bonds of 14.3 billion rupees in February 2012, equivalent to 125 million dollars.

Cathay Pacific celebrates 25 years in Sri Lanka

Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways celebrates 25 years of service in Sri Lanka this month. The airline commenced its flights to Colombo in October 1993 with just two flights a week. Since then the airline has expanded its services to the island offering greater choice and convenience to customers travelling to and from Sri Lanka via Cathay Pacific’s extensive international network and the regional network of sister airline, Cathay Dragon.

Launching a series of celebrations in October, the airline announced a limited period flash sale with up to 25% discount on Economy Class flights from Colombo to select destinations. Promotional fare to Hong Kong starts from LKR 82,000 (Return/All inclusive). Shanghai, Beijing and Xiamen in Mainland China are also included in the offer, with fares starting from LKR 73,500 (Return/All inclusive) in Economy Class.

Cathay Pacific Airways also offers amongst the fastest flying times between Colombo and North America, with all-inclusive return fares starting from LKR 143,000 to Los Angeles and San Francisco, LKR 143,600 to New York, LKR 156,400 to Toronto, LKR 190,400 to Vancouver and more on the flash sale offer.

The promotional offer is also available for popular destinations in Japan and Korea with attractive fares in Economy Class staring from LKR 77,100 (Return/All inclusive) and LKR 79,500 (Return/All inclusive) respectively.

Commenting on the launch of flash sale, Vishnu Rajendran, Country Lead – Sri Lanka & Maldives for Cathay Pacific Airways said "We are proud of being able to connect Sri Lanka to the world for 25 years. Sri Lanka has always been an important market in our network and we continually strive to offer seamless connections for Sri Lankans travelling from Colombo to key destinations in Asia, North America and Australia via our Hong Kong hub."

SriLankan A332 4R-ALC has returned to revenue flights today after grounded for few weeks but A332 4R-ALH & A321N 4R-ANC aren't flying since 26-Sep. Any reason?

I saw neither of them at CMB yesterday... UL were running most of their flights on MRC, MRD ABQ, ABR (which I was on) and ANE.
I felt that their A330’s were severely underutilized

Spotted Qatar Airways A359 though

The most on-time airline in September 2018 was SriLankan Airlines, according to a monthly report by the flightstats website, which tracks information about dozens of airlines and airports all over the world. The second promptest airline was Delta Airline, 87% of whose flights landed on time.

I think UL is downsizing the flight network due to end of aircraft leases in winter 2018. I would guess UL will loose 2 A332s and 2 A320/1 to lessors very soon. That makes sense by looking at the below changes : -

- A332 replaced with A333 on MEL & PEK route
- Termination of HKG & VTZ;
- Downgrading the frequency of flights to MAA, KHI, MCT, BKK, JED

4R-ALH is on c check

Does anyone remember CS-TFZ? Hi-Fly's old-aged A330-200. It was once painted into SriLankan livery and then wasn't taken up by SriLankan, and was returned back to Hi Fly.

The aircraft has now come back to Colombo in all white, and will now be part of the SriLankan fleet as 4R-ALS. The aircraft has come to Colombo via Brussels last night, still bearing registration CS-TFZ.
Wonder when will they paint it into SriLankan colors?

Pictures soon.

Thanks for the update ! Why SriLankan need more aircraft when already the current fleet is under-utilised? SriLankan is already downsizing the network.