Sri Lanka Aviation

Bizarre route decisions of SriLankan Airlines

Testifying at today’s (December 12) Presidential Commission of Inquiry on irregularities at SriLankan Airlines, SriLankan Catering, and Mihin Lanka was former Country Manager of SriLankan, Rajiva Prakash Jayaweera.

Commenting on the airline’s decision to fly to Gan Island in the Maldives, the witness stated that the decision was taken in September 2012, and flying commenced just six weeks later, without proper marketing or planning. It was revealed last month, that the loss-making operations to Gan island cost SriLankan more than 2.1 million US dollars.

Representatives of the Attorney General’s department also questioned the witness over a contract agreement extended to the Airlines by a Swiss tour operator named Hotel Planner.

The 4-month agreement starting December 2011, agreed to accommodate 75% of every 150 seats with tourists, flying to Colombo and Maldives. The foreign tour operator agreed to reimburse CHF 775 or USD 830 per seat if the pre-agreed seat percentage was not utilized. While Zurich operations during the four-month period cost Sri Lankan a further estimated loss of 3.4 million US Dollars, the airlines did not receive a single payment from the tour operator.

Source: News first.lk

Azur Ukraine is going to operate seasonal charters but UIA is flying year-round schedule flights. UIA is replacing all their B767 with 361 seater B777 from 2019. Termination of UIA flights to Colombo may be due to the fact there is no demand for operating UIA B777 to Colombo. But its sad to see UIA leave. Hope TK would consider flying nonstop flights to Colombo. In Summer, only UL and TK are connecting Europe and Sri Lanka with direct flights.

A group of wealthy tourists arrive at MRIA

A group of wealthy tourists arrived at the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) last afternoon for a three-day excursion of Sri Lanka, Airport Manager Upali Kalansuriya said. Speaking to the Daily Mirror, he said 247 passengers had arrived for sight seen in Hambantota.
The tourists were arrived from Singapore by chartered Airbus A 340, he said. “The flight landed at MRIA at 1.07 p.m. and scheduled to leave for Uzbekistan at 3.30 a.m on Thursday,” he said. A rousing welcome was accorded at the MRIA.

http://www.dailymirror.lk/article/A-...IA-158951.html

Antonov An-124 at MRIA for the ninth time

Antonov An-124 Russian Long-Range Heavy Transport Aircraft was landed at the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) for the ninth time last evening.

http://www.dailymirror.lk/article/An...me-159792.html

US-Bangla is planning CMB service as part of routes expansion, no details.

FR24 shows Tehran was a stop on this route as well, it was dropped recently.

Etihad A380 landed at VCBI a short while ago as Etihad 451 from Sydney bound to Abu Dhabi. Probably tech crew change, first officer sick again, pax sick or refuelling stop.

Yes, the airline website listed Colombo as an upcoming destination. Have they received the two B738 which were due to be delivered in Nov ?

What is the aircraft registration? Good to see A380 once again in Colombo.

May be technical glitch in FR24. I just checked the airline schedule but it says TK is operating once a week on IST-MAA-CMB-IST and once a week on IST-KHI-CMB-IST. It seems TK has replaced the IST-BLR-CMB-IST with IST-DMM-BLR-IST. Therefore the overall TK cargo frequency to CMB has been reduced from 3 to 2 weekly.

Wondering why does the MAA bound MH is flying towards Sri Lanka. Any reason?

a6-apg.

what i think this will take ages to materialize.. this is kind of wish list.. and Colombo is not in top list...

Most likely flying around Cyclone Phethai.

Gatwick Airport News. Two of the best long-haul performers in growth terms were Kigali in Rwanda which grew by 134.1% while Sri Lanka’s Colombo increased by 110%.
Source : Ttg media


Any possibility BA is starting LHR-CMB flights? Colombo is lacking direct flights to Europe. BA is going to resume Islamabad onboard B788. Wish they consider doing direct flight to Sri Lanka too.