Sri Lanka Aviation

Maldive (air) is doing just OK, and with the domestic competition, I doubt they will expand much, unless an investor comes on board. That's just my 2 cents though.

Another good article.



The one thing people keep missing is that UL is not a business - it's a wealth transfer vehicle.

Most people are just there to maximise their own salary and benefits. There is nothing that indicates anyone is interested in running this as a business.

Most of the management are not even qualified to hold their positions - this pack of clowns couldn't manage their way out of a paper bag imho!

Ajith Dias still talking about profitabilty in 3 years - I can't take anything he says seriously.

Now they can't even decide what to do - all decisions are being over-ruled by the GOSL. GOSL doesn't know if it's coming or going imho!

And then there's this....



I see the Politicians are very good at protecting themselves. They will be able to shut down any investigation - especially any that threaten to expose their involvement.

So no accountabilty and no justice for those of us who are victims of abuse of power.

Until this culture of impunity and zero accountability changes it's all a lost cause - that applies to the country as well as the Airline.

UL announces suspension of CMB-FCO effective 01MAY16, along with a few other changes to it's network.

http://www.srilankan.com/en_uk/home/news-details/266

Colombo as a hot city pair for India(2015), SriLankan Airlines, a member of the British Airways-led One world, carried almost 13 lakh people into and out of India — more than mega carriers like Lufthansa (11.1 lakh) and Singapore Airlines (11.9 lakh) -( because of the connections it provides from Colombo to Indian globetrotters.)"Way to go Sri Lanka".

In order to increase capacity on more commercially viable routes, SriLankan will discontinue operations to Rome from May 1, 2016.Accordingly, London will remain SriLankan’s main gateway to Europe and Paris with four weekly frequencies,adding Frankfurt as a fifth frequency from July 2016, which will continue during summer 2016.

Dropping Rome was the best decision rather than withdrawing completely from mainland Europe...most advisors had a knee jerk reaction saying FRA and CDG need to be dropped...well if these 2 routes are not profitable (well currently they are not profitable)...find out why they are not profitable with a 80+% load factor...answer is quite simple; (# of UL employees and their family members) reduce or completely eliminate the UL staff (have virtual offices) in these 2 stations plus London as well. recall Manoj Vass back to Colombo. There is no need for him to stay in London.

Finally as a One World member think about FRA - YYZ (this is a domain of 2 Star alliance Hubs)

IIRC UL tried to drop FCO during the previous regime also but ended up shelving the plan after the local bishop or someone intervened through the president to leave the gateway to Vatican open....

I sincerely hope the same interference does not happen this time around also.... Hopefully UL can get more load through MLE for FRA & CDG if the 5th freedom flights is on the cards.

If a fifth freedom flight is in the works wouldn't it be better to fly MLE-LHR?

Doesn't UL already offer LHR-MLE-CMB?

I know this route was operated back in the day but I don't think it exists anymore. I could be wrong though.

No not ATM.

Why?

Did you mean seasonal long haul flights from MLE?

SriLankan Airlines to axe Rome, boost Middle East, China

SriLankan Airlines will axe its loss-making run to Rome and boost frequencies to China, India and the Middle East after getting using its newly acquired Airbus A330-300 aircraft.

SriLankan Airlines said it was responding to competition by "re-evaluating its current operations and re-deploying capacity to more sustainable routes and destinations."

The airline said it will continue non-stop flights from Colombo to London as the 'main gateway' to Europe. It will fly to Paris four times a week and a fight Frankfurt flight will be added during summer 2016.

SriLankan has said it was losing money on European routes, especially with older fuel-guzzling A340 aircraft which have now been phased out.

An earlier attempt to cut the Rome flight was reportedly thwarted by ex-President Mahinda Rajapaksa following lobbying by sections of the clergy.

Sri Lanka's high end tourist hotel lobby is also pressuring the airline to operate loss-making routes to Europe at the expense of the people to safeguard their own profits.

The airline started to lose money after Dubai-based Emirates terminated its management deal over a disagreement with the ousted Rajapaksa regime.

SriLankan said it will start daily flights to Riyadh and six flights a week to Jeddah. It now flies 42 times week to Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Doha, Dammam, Riyadh, Jeddah and Kuwait in the Middle East.

SriLankan operates 88 flights a week to seven Indian destinations and 26 flights to Male.

The carrier said its South Asian operations are also a lynchpin of its partnership with OneWorld, a global airline alliance.

China, which is catching up with India as the top tourist destination is also a key focus area. The airline said I recently started to fly non-stop three times a week to Guangzhou.

It flies to Beijing, Shanghai, Canton and Kunming in the mainland 18 times a week and three times a week to Hong Kong.

SriLankan operates 19 flights week to Singapore and twice a day to Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok.

Fuel costs are very high in MLE. In addition it costs a lot of money to have 2 sets of crew overnighting in MLE for each flight performed.

Much cheaper to fly LHR-CMB and have MLE passengers transit via CMB.