Sri Lanka Aviation

Before thinking about international operations, AirAsia India should focus on stabilizing domestic operations first. Its almost a year they've been operating in the domestic skies of India, but cancellations and delays should not come as a surprise to the passengers. However, I do believe that they are on course to break even pretty soon, and they've just recently started to operate out of Delhi, so the expansion is happening, albeit slowly.

Furthermore, the 5/20 rule in India is a barrier stopping I5 from expanding internationally (5/20 meaning 5 years of domestic operations and a fleet of 20 aircraft). However, I hope the government does away with that rule really soon, it prevents any sort of decent competition. Before coming to CMB/HRI, I think I5 will focus on giving connections to KUL and beyond (for example, Delhi - Bangalore on I5, Bangalore to Kuala Lumpur on AK, Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne, perhaps).

Agreed - I for one am happy AI are resuming DEL-CMB. The *A membership would help a bit, I guess. Domestic connections from DEL are pretty reasonable, too!
But in terms of service (soft product), I think UL pips AI somewhat.
I hope AI does expand in and around Southern India and starting more flights to Sri Lanka - quite a few Airbus planes have been freed up after many of the international services were upgraded to a Boeing 787, and some new A320s are coming in soon.

And as a (secret :P ) Jet Airways fan, I seriously they add to their double daily BOM-CMB-BOM flights. I was disappointed they stopped CMB-DEL-CMB, it didn't work out very well. I hope AI does better. But I was even more disappointed when they left MAA-CMB-MAA! Would be good if they resume that route with an ATR at least!

I wonder what the Indian aviation new kid has in store - Vistara. I honestly don't know what their international plans are!

So that's it from me :P
Anyone flying CMB-CCU MJ inaugural on the 17th?

Regards
Jish

Sri Lankan Should operate daily flights to NRT.UL have already a stedy load in NRT-MLE sector.

additional to that they should use 333 equipment to cater this sector.

Few years back UL was planning to increase NRT frequency from 4 to 5 weekly. Not sure what happened to that? UL still operating 4 weekly on CMB-NRT sector .

Hi Haleef - I remember you flew several times to Japan onboard UL. How is the yield on the business class and Passenger load factor on the economy class for UL's CMB-NRT-CMB route.

UL is using 3 out 4 weekly flights onboard A330-343E - http://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/ul454/

Hi.. yes there is a good load factor, infact the flights are full when coming down from NRT. Going up not that much load, but yet it's almost full..

Well, me for once, see HeliTours competing with the private sector as the best way to stifle competition. It's a matter of time before the private sector loses interest, unless they have 'privileges' ..

The Asean routes are real money spinners for LCCs, and I doubt they want to 'look west' at the near future

TR wound down their CMB op not due to pressure to move to HRI, but due to the profit margin being low, as the route is pretty much getting saturated by EK, UL and CX alone, not to mention the rock bottom prices MH has been pushing, even before the MH 370, as promotion to Malaysia.

Scoot will not look at CMB, again, it's a small market with too much fragmentation, and Scoot is not keen to tie up with others, as their strategy defined by SQ is not to dilute Full service traffic.

CAA to consider open sky policy

In a bid to position Sri Lanka’s aviation industry as a prime catalyst to the growth of the national economy, the Government is now considering the implementation of an open sky policy, a senior official said.

A special committee appointed by the Aviation Services Minister will hold a meeting today to discuss the implementation of the policy and outline the focus areas going forward.

“We are now trying to open it up for international operations. After the initial meeting with the appointed committee today, we will have another meeting with the local stakeholders to consider their views before we formulate the policy,” CAA Director General Director General and Chief Executive Officer H.M.C. Nimalsiri told the Daily FT.

See more at: http://www.ft.lk/article/428487/CAA-....BF3MYJvS.dpuf

4R-ADE is back in service and its first flight is to Riyadh.

JAL8839 Landed in CMB at around 2355 local time( As to flight radar).Its a 777-246ER with the one world livery.Any news on this flight?

It's Origine shows as Fukuoka.

JAL have been operating this charter flight on NRT-FUK-CMB-EBB route for a CONTRAIL project.

Does any one know the current status of 4R-ADA, 4R-ADB & 4R-ADC. As far as i can tell they havn't flown since mid-March. Has it been retired? If yes, where is it parked?

@AF777. All 3 have been retired from the fleet in April. Paint removed. All 3 were parked in VCBI till may. I have been told that ADA and ADB flew away to an unknown destination. Furthermore 1of the 3 birds will go to another airline. Presumably ADC.

4R-ADC off to?

Mihin Lanka relocates sales and ticketing office in Colombo

Mihin Lanka recently relocated its sales and ticketing office to a new central location in Colombo. The new office is located at No.15 A Alfred Place Colombo 3, in the same premises as Mihin Lanka's head office. The opening ceremony was attended by a gathering of distinguished guests and officials, as well as the senior management of Mihin Lanka.

http://www.dailynews.lk/?q=business/....O9ItIOpF.dpuf