Oooo...that's good good..excellent decision to lease some aircrafts. I think srilankan airlines has the shortest way to lease a330s from jet airways india. It has been grounded more than 7 a330s from its fleet. Srilankan can get quick seat refurbishing and take them into their operations....💖💖

Hoping to leave by the end of this month...

I dont think that it is that simple.

Firstly it depends on who the aircraft lessor is and the impending default payments has to be negotiated or settled by the lessor.

From a technical standpoint I think Jet airways operated the A330 with GE or PW engines, which is not compatible to UL's current operation.

Also many parts have been either vandalised, fixed or interchanged with other operational aircraft. I remember seeing one of the 77H's parked at a remote parking slot at MAA with missing engines and services latches opened or removed may be due to lack of finances for maintenance or bankruptcy during the process. So could be the condition of their A333.

I personally think for the impending cancellation of the A359 in 2021/2022, UL should look to revise it into the A330NEO series aircraft. The last A330-300 rolled out of Airbus this week and acquired by aer lingus so it is an obsolete aircraft model by modern standards.

Although the Chairman said at the COPE that the airline is cash strapped and new aircraft purchases or leases are not a viable solution so we may be possible looking at A332/A333 airframes of 5-6 years of age. Bleak future really in terms of fleet though for the future with no new aircrafts around the corner.

Also I would like to ask from the experts whether operating the A359 for UL's route network is all but unprofitable. Because right now QR operates them on CMB-DOH and SQ operates them on SIN-CMB which for the A359 performance can be considered short to moderate hops. So can't the A359 be adopted into the UL fleet and operated to LHR,NRT,MEL and planned SYD,FRA,AMS rather than having more irregularities in order placement and cancellation.

FitsAir to fly more overseas destinations
Thursday, March 5, 2020 - 01:00

Sri Lanka?s domestic airline operator FitsAir will become the first local private airline to launch direct scheduled flights to another country when they start operating flights to Chennai from May.

The flights will originate from Ratnamala International Airport and it will also have a stopover in Palali in both their onward and return flights. An official from the airline said that they have already received the green light to fly to this route. ?We will also look at operating more direct flights to another destination in India and also to Male.

The airline would use a modern 72- seater ATR 72 aircraft for this operation operated by a six member crew. Opening up a new chapter in the aviation industry, FitsAir also became the first local private operator to start flights to the new refurbished Palali airport having three frequencies per week.

The airline also operates two flights per week to Batticaloa flying a Cessna 12 seater aircraft. ?Both these sectors have around 55% load factor.?


Asked if they have plans to have a Batticaloa stopover he answered in the negative since the flying time would be more than three hours and the ?short connectivity to Jaffna and back? concept would be lost. With the global Coronavirus pandemic lot of Sri Lankans have cancelled their April holiday tours overseas and most of them are now booking flights and package tours to Jaffna.

Source : Daily news

Have you heard any info on when SriLanka might start flights to Sydney?

Thanks

Like said before it was only a matter of time. The CEO may freely walk away to his grand Barnes place residence and after a matter of weeks the people of this country will be a gullible lot.

The humble tax payer will carry the weight around for the time to come. Well done.

SriLankan Airlines may suspend flights to Jeddah, China amid Coronavirus
Friday March 6, 2020 10:36:08


RESCUE MISION: A SriLankan volunteer crew flew a rescue flight to Wuhan to take out Sri Lankan citizens trapped in the city.
ECONOMYNEXT ? State-run SriLankan Airlines may suspend flights to China for a time amid a Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, as passenger volumes nose dive and operations to Jeddah may also be stopped amid tighter restrictions, industry sources said.

In February SriLankan slashed flights to China as Chinese arrivals fell with Beijing cut to twice week from four and Canton cut to three from seven as the epidemic unfolded.

Flights to Jeddah are also likely to be suspended due to tighter entry requirements imposed by Saudi Arabia, travel industry sources said.

Visitors from China fell 92.5 percent to 2,096 in February 2020 from 28,039 in 2019. Several Chinese airlines including China Southern operate flights between the two countries.

However arrivals from India, the largest generating market rose 7 percent. India?s GoAir which starts flights to Sri Lanka from this month said they had seen an increase in travel within South Asia as the Coronavirus hit East Asia.

The State of Kuwait?s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said all incoming flights to and from Kuwait International Airport are temporarily suspended for the Philippines, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt starting from March 6 2020 until one week.

Source : Colombo Gazette

Why they stopped to Sri Lanka? We are not affected like many other countries.

Korean Air March - May 2020 International network changes as of 03MAR20

Seoul Incheon ? Colombo ? Male 02MAR20 ? 16MAR20 Colombo ? Male sector cancelled, 3 weekly

According to below link, Fitsair is going to commence Jaffna - Chennai and Jaffna - Trichy routes.

Days of operation
Jaffna - Chennai - Mon.Wed.Sat
Jaffna - Trichy - Tue, Thu, Sun

Wikipedia say SriLankan has 2 x A321neo, 2 x A330-300 and 4 x A330-900 on order. Is it true?

Wrong. It's not updated at all. Still no proper confirmation on aircraft orders as of yet as I know.

Do people here not read the news?

Global Aviation is collapsing. People are no longer travelling and increasing quarantine measures means that travel will become increasingly difficult.

Lufthansa is grounding their A380 fleet (14 aircraft). Rumour is that Qantas is about to ground 6 A380.

Airlines have stopped hiring, cutting salaries and forcing staff to take unpaid leave. Next up will be mass layoffs and bankruptcies.

There is a huge Economic Shock coming.

This will affect Sri Lanka/SriLankan where there is still a great deal of delusional thinking.

Once again a good move by FitsAir! - Hope they can capitalize on their First mover advantage

Looks clear that UL's Market Share is going to get a direct hit, they should've ideally invested in a few turboprops ages ago!