Sri Lanka Aviation

BIA – Palaly air route to open for commercial operations
By Sunimalee Dias

Sri Lanka is preparing to open its air route from its main international airport at Katunayake to Palaly in Jaffna for commercial flights in a bid to cater to a growing demand in commercial traffic. Currently flights between Colombo and Palaly originate from the Ratmalana airport.

“We are trying to attract domestic operators to bring airplanes which can accommodate about 30-50 passengers between these two airports,” Airport and Aviation Services Ltd. Executive Director Johanne Jayaratne told the Business Times.

He noted that these flights would be scheduled to coincide with the arriving and departing flights from India into BIA and out of BIA.

It has been found that of all domestic routes the one that would have the most potential would be to Jaffna from BIA volume wise, Mr. Jayaratne explained.

It was pointed out that right now there are no scheduled flights operating to Jaffna and in this respect “we are trying to facilitate the network and create the equipment as the infrastructure was not available and we are adjusting the apron space for the aircraft to park.”

However, operators are yet to use this service and take over this new opportunity made available to the industry.

A350 order cancelled as per below source


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An Airbus A321 NEO aircraft has been added to the fleet of Sri Lankan Airlines.

A spokesperson for the Sri Lankan Airlines said the aircraft arrived in the country today and that the plane was ordered during the previous government.

The Airbus A321 NEO landed today from Hamburg and it is manufactured in Germany, Sri Lankan Airlines stated, that the Airbus A321 NEO is scheduled to be deployed for passenger services after 2 more days, mainly for short distance travel.

Currently considered to be one of the latest aircraft in the world the Airbus A321 NEO has a high rate of fuel and cost efficiency according to the spokesperson for the Sri Lankan Airlines. The Airbus A321 NEO aircraft is valued at 129 million US Dollars. Meanwhile, orders of four A 350 aircraft placed by the previous government were canceled by the current government.

Source-newsfirst. https://www.newsfirst.lk/2018/07/30/...-neo-aircraft/

That would refer to the 4 ordered via Aercap.

A lot of people still don't realise that there are 2 separate orders. Even the press gets this wrong.

The ones bought from airbus are still on order. If this contract does not have a termination clause (the only logical conclusion since this order hasn't been cancelled) then SriLankan has to pay.

U$ 800 Million outstanding according to the local papers.

When its expected to be in service?





Any idea what Airbus & SriLankan are going to do with 4 x A350s which were ordered by SriLankan? First delivery early 2020.

Do you know what happened to the plan on Aercap leasing Hifly's A332 to SriLankan?

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe says that aviation service will be launched in the east to develop the tourism industry. Wickremesinghe said that four airlines had come for this program, and said that the development of the tourism industry in the East would not be enough for the existing tourism industry

Mr. Vipula Gunatilleka has been appointed as the Group Chief Operating and Finance Officer of SriLankan Airlines effective 1st August 2018. Mr Gunatilleka in his capacity as the GCO & FO will report to the Chairman and the Board of Directors and will be responsible for the overall management of the airline.

I doubt that they did. All big talk only I suppose.

The question is which domestic carrier would fly this route

FitsAir’s ATR72 would accommodate around 70 pax in contrast to 30 Plus seaters as mentioned in the article

SriLankan AirTaxi’s Twin Otter would seat 19 pax but are they still in service with Cinnamon Air?

In my opinion a Single Class Bombarder Dash8 Q300 would be the most fuel efficient and practical aircraft for domestic routes since I’ve seen (and flown) SpiceJet in India making good use of them

IndiGo's A-320 fleet to undergo major maintenance in Sri Lanka.

Read more at:

CS-TFZ is currently still being operated by HiFly - no idea what the lease construction looks like.

Nobody wants to talk about the A350 order - nobody is asking the tough questions about this.

This is very old article.written in 2014.

That's why.....i don't think SriLankan engineering is even certified to take a piss these days

That pretty well sums up the Engineering department!

I have previously written about some of their "Greatest Hits". Good that they lost their EASA 145 certification - they should never have received it in first place.

Meanwhile the investigation is going deeper down the rabbit hole....



"Alleged irregularities" Right.

Getting ever closer to discovering the involvement of the Corrupt Politicians.

Just submitted my evidence of Abuse of Power to the Commission.

SLAF suspends civilian flights; incentives for other domestic operators

The Government recently took policy decisions with a view to promoting domestic air services. These are published on the CAASL’s website and include a proposal to set up a dedicated passenger terminal at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) to handle domestic air services; make available a common maintenance hangar at BIA for domestic operators; demarcate part of apron ‘D’ for domestic flights and introduce a separate charging mechanism; and to instruct all domestic operators to night-park their commercial aircraft at Ratmalana owing to space issues at BIA.

It was also decided to develop Sigiriya, Palaly, Hingurakgoda, Koggala and Trincomallee airports for domestic operators using funds from donor agencies and the Airport & Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) Ltd. Operations of all civil flights will be subjected to civil aviation requirements and self-handling will be permitted at all domestic airports except BIA.

Ground-handling charges at BIA will be reduced for domestic air operators and aviation fuel supplied at all internal airports. Slot allocation will be done by the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and some helicopter landing sites will be set up in Colombo city. Legislation will be amended to release domestic aviation from value added tax while there will be a one-year (from the date of commencement of operations) exemption of landing and parking charges. A request will also be made to the Finance Ministry to exempt domestic aircraft leases from withholding tax.
The same statement on CAASL’s website said the SLAF has undertaken to stop civilian passenger transport but the Air Force has requested the regulator to remove that sentence.

The CAASL has invited applications and business proposals from the private sector for domestic air services. Limitations in space and facilities means the DGCA will take a first-come, first-served position with particular emphasis on type of aircraft (Western-build, modern planes with not less than 20 seats). Operators are encouraged to start services “at the earliest”.

The Sunday Times

Because the private airlines coming to the scene right?