Sri Lanka Aviation

**ecureilx** · 01-08-2012, 07:34 AM

Originally posted by Cayman

1. When UL was under EK management, there was an agreement in place not to cross recruit. This was actually somewhat detrimental to UL staff at the time, because they never got any opportunity with EK.

However, as soon as EK was kicked out, they went on a recruiting spree taking the cream de la crème of cabin crew and pilots. Peter Hill then accompanied some of the best operational people to EK and then the rest of the good people to Oman Air when he became the CEO there. So, in summary, NO, EK did not poach UL staff (cockpit crew or otherwise) during the time of their managing UL.

And in any case, even if EK decides to poach or not .. you can't stop people leaving for greener pastures .. just take a look at SQ - you will be amazed by the number of applicants from UL reaching them every month ..

2. Except for ZHR, EK never used UL landing rights to fly any route that UL WANTED to fly. Sure, they used UL flight numbers on their second JFK flight and perhaps some other destinations that UL never wanted or did not have in their business plan to fly, but not to the detriment of UL.

And they did feed a lot, lot and lot of traffic INTO CMB - and in essence, CMB was making money in the landing charges ..

3. EK never abandoned UL during the 2001 attack. It is widely believed in the aviation circles that might of the EK is what actually saved UL when half their fleet went up in smoke (that and the fantastic work by the UL staff). In the light of loss of the long haul metal (A343s and A332s) EK asked UL to fly CMB-DXB-CMB shuttle service with their remaining A320 and wide bodies and they picked up the passengers that were headed to Europe and put them in their flights from DXB, thereby allowing UL not to cancel the tickets and pay refund + penalties. I am sure EK must have charged UL for the sectors they undertook, but I am not privy to the details of that arrangement.

Well, actually, I recall a large airline business which took off with their tails tucked between their legs, when the 2001 attack happened, even sinking a few million $ in the evacuation, simply because their insurance cover didn't cover 'war' ... EK made a brave decision to stay and stay put and despite the rising insurance cost - did feed traffic into and out of the country -

4. I think the "free money and free fuel for EK" fallacy has been firmly put to death in here and elsewhere, so I am not even going there.

if at all the freebie that EK gets is - landing privileges in DXB - which is also now becoming dicey as DXB Inc is struggling to finance a lot of ventures !!!

**Praetorian** · 01-08-2012, 11:13 AM

Originally posted by Cayman

1. When UL was under EK management, there was an agreement in place not to cross recruit. This was actually somewhat detrimental to UL staff at the time, because they never got any opportunity with EK.

However, as soon as EK was kicked out, they went on a recruiting spree taking the cream de la crème of cabin crew and pilots. Peter Hill then accompanied some of the best operational people to EK and then the rest of the good people to Oman Air when he became the CEO there. So, in summary, NO, EK did not poach UL staff (cockpit crew or otherwise) during the time of their managing UL.

2. Except for ZHR, EK never used UL landing rights to fly any route that UL WANTED to fly. Sure, they used UL flight numbers on their second JFK flight and perhaps some other destinations that UL never wanted or did not have in their business plan to fly, but not to the detriment of UL.

3. EK never abandoned UL during the 2001 attack. It is widely believed in the aviation circles that might of the EK is what actually saved UL when half their fleet went up in smoke (that and the fantastic work by the UL staff). In the light of loss of the long haul metal (A343s and A332s) EK asked UL to fly CMB-DXB-CMB shuttle service with their remaining A320 and wide bodies and they picked up the passengers that were headed to Europe and put them in their flights from DXB, thereby allowing UL not to cancel the tickets and pay refund + penalties. I am sure EK must have charged UL for the sectors they undertook, but I am not privy to the details of that arrangement.

4. I think the "free money and free fuel for EK" fallacy has been firmly put to death in here and elsewhere, so I am not even going there.

Thanks for sharing. Guess i was off the mark.

I still believe UL needs a big goal/aim to become big. The mentality of "why can't we be number 1"? needs to be drilled into peoples heads. The potential exists. Just never realised. Having poor and pathetic management is the biggest problem.

**uthum** · 01-08-2012, 01:21 PM

Originally posted by Banuthev

SriLankan expands to Moscow - SriLankan Airlines will boost access to Moscow with increasing Demodedovo flights from the current two weekly up to four weekly, from the 17th December 2012. All flights will be operated via Dubai however SriLankan will have local rights on DXB-DME for two out of four weekly flights - local rights applied to Mondays and Fridays only. The airline will deploy an 140 seater new A320-200 on this CMB-DXB-DME vv route. Rival airline, Emirates has announced they also will boost their DME capacity by replacing B773ER with A380 service effective 1st Dec 2012. Aeroflot has removed Colombo from their ARS for the Winter 2012 Season.

According to Airlineroute.net, SriLankan Airlines Cancels Planned Dubai / Moscow Service Increase in W12

News | Routes

http://airlineroute.net/2012/08/01/ul-dxbdme-w12update2/

Routes is the home of the world’s leading aviation network development conferences and events. Plus aviation news and features, and profiles of global airlines and airports.

**Serendib** · 01-08-2012, 02:26 PM

Originally posted by uthum

MJ is finally promoting Bahrain as as a destination.

Mihin Lanka starting 02SEP12 plans to launch 5 weekly Colombo – Bahrain service, on board mono-class Airbus A321 aircraft. This is to replace SriLankan Airlines’ service after the airline to withdraw from this route after over 40 years of operation.

Reservation for this flight is now available on www.mihinlanka.com, Schedule:

MJ411 CMB1830 – 2135BAH 321 x56
MJ412 BAH2235 – 0605+1CMB 321 x56

but Mihin website showing BAH flight number is MJ215/6.

**Praetorian** · 01-08-2012, 04:28 PM

Originally posted by Serendib

but Mihin website showing BAH flight number is MJ215/6.

What i'd like to know is when is this flying monstrosity going to be scrapped?
Pretty sure some kind of new crime in aviation is being committed by keeping this thing afloat...two airlines run by the State

**SSCMK** · 01-08-2012, 06:13 PM

New Delhi, Aug. 1: SpiceJet plans to launch a daily flight between Madurai and Colombo from September this year. The launch will make SpiceJet the first international airline to operate from the Southern city.

“The flight will probably happen in early September. We will use a Q 400 aircraft to launch the flight,” the airline Chief Executive Officer, Neil Mills, told Business Line. Airline officials said there were still some last-minute issues that the airport had to sort out with the customs and immigration authorities. The airline is also looking to expand its international presence with flights to Riyadh, Guangzhou and Hong Kong from Delhi. Mills said the airline also plans to launch flights to Bangkok from either Hyderabad or Kolkata.

“The flights will all start before October. Some of these will probably not be daily flights but we will build up to a daily,” Mills said.

Page Not Found

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/article3712850.ece

**Cayman** · 01-08-2012, 10:49 PM

Originally posted by ecureilx

... EK made a brave decision to stay and stay put and despite the rising insurance cost - did feed traffic into and out of the country -

if at all the freebie that EK gets is - landing privileges in DXB - which is also now becoming dicey as DXB Inc is struggling to finance a lot of ventures !!!

Yes, EK never abandoned CMB, though they very smartly replaced the higher value 772 frames used for the CMB run with dilapidated (by EK standards) A310s in the immediate aftermath of the attack. I am not sure of this, but what I heard at the time was that the insurer of the 722s simply refused to cover them at CMB, while the company that insured A310s agreed to cover at a higher premium, which EK must have worked out was not that great, given the frames themselves were old and less expensive.

I am by no means being naïve here to suggest that EK did all this out of the goodness of their hearts. They are truly run like a for profit business (not a charity) and identified the strategic importance of CMB as a destination as well as the essential necessity of having CMB up and running for the survival of UL, in which they had a vested interest.

The pleasant side effect of all this was that CMB remained opened, country remained connected and UL survived the worst attack on any airline in the history of commercial aviation.

**Cayman** · 01-08-2012, 10:53 PM

Originally posted by Praetorian

I still believe UL needs a big goal/aim to become big. The mentality of "why can't we be number 1"? needs to be drilled into peoples heads. The potential exists. Just never realised. Having poor and pathetic management is the biggest problem.

Absolutely!

On a side note, I enjoy reading your passionate (and patriotric) posts. You have a clear understanding of where the UL as an airline and SL as a country have gone wrong, if only people who could make a difference heed!

**Praetorian** · 02-08-2012, 01:51 PM

Regarding the older A340's, there was a news item (i believe it is somewhere around pages 40-60 in this thread) stating how getting these old birds in the air in terms of fuel costs so much that it's cheaper to keep them grounded. This news item was around the same time the routes to Italy were scrapped and MR came to "save" them.

Isn't this the better option to take overall? Preferrably use the older A340s to Maldives and emergencies and maybe keep one as our "air force one" when MR, Governent people and other honcho's and thugs want to go joy riding places.

With the leases about to expire, it is understandably UL does not want to refurbish these planes. However if someone comes in bound on a refurbished plane (flat beds, new PTVs and seats) then departs on an older plane it leaves a bad taste in peoples mouths. They will not recormend the airline to their friends and others and leave bad reviews. (It's not so much the case if they arrive on an older plane and leave on a newer one).

**skyline** · 02-08-2012, 08:38 PM

Sri Lanka’s John Keells, Phoenix Ventures floats local air taxi service

August 02, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s John Keells Holding PLC has joined with Phoenix Ventures Limited to start a 6.8 million dollar domestic air taxi service, a statement said.

Saffron Aviation (Pvt) Ltd, will be a 8.4 million dollar project becoming the second such air taxi operator after national carrier SriLankan Airlines.

The start-up fleet will consist of two Cessna 208 Caravan Amphibian aircraft (seating nine passengers each) and one wheeled Cessna 208B Grand Caravan aircraft (seating 12 passengers) that would provide the flexibility for the airline to operate from any of the domestic and international airportsas well as from waterdromes in Sri Lanka, a statement said Thursday.

The domestic air taxi service, flying under the brand name ‘Cinnamon Air’ will fill a critical void in the current tourism offering in Sri Lanka by providing a unique service of scheduled daily flights linking the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) with key holiday locations on the South West coast, the East Coast (in the summer season), Kandy, the Cultural Triangle and Hambantota/Yala. Flights to and from the BIA will largely connect with arrival and departure flight timings of the National Carrier and all major international airlines serving Colombo.

Commercial operations of Cinnamon Air are expected to commence in the last quarter of FY 2012.

http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/f...nid=1680004792

**banuthev** · 02-08-2012, 08:52 PM

Mihin Lanka to take delivery of A321 Aircraft - Mihin Lanka will be taking delivery of A321-231 from ILFC , by September 2012. The aircraft, 4R-MRD ( MSN 1946 ) is currently parked at Perpignan – Rivesaltes Airport (PGF) in France prior delivery to Colombo. The Engines powered by 2x IAE V2533-A5. The aircraft will be acquired on a Dry-Lease Agreement. I will post the picture of the aircraft soon.

**MalaysiaMustafa** · 03-08-2012, 04:00 PM

Oman Air W12 Planned Service Expansion

News | Routes

http://airlineroute.net/2012/08/01/wy-w12update1/

Routes is the home of the world’s leading aviation network development conferences and events. Plus aviation news and features, and profiles of global airlines and airports.

Singapore Airlines W12 Colombo Aircraft Changes

News | Routes

http://airlineroute.net/2012/08/01/sq-cmb-w12/

Routes is the home of the world’s leading aviation network development conferences and events. Plus aviation news and features, and profiles of global airlines and airports.

**skyline** · 03-08-2012, 08:08 PM

Originally posted by Banuthev

Mihin Lanka to take delivery of A321 Aircraft - Mihin Lanka will be taking delivery of A321-231 from ILFC , by September 2012. The aircraft, 4R-MRD ( MSN 1946 ) is currently parked at Perpignan – Rivesaltes Airport (PGF) in France prior delivery to Colombo. The Engines powered by 2x IAE V2533-A5. The aircraft will be acquired on a Dry-Lease Agreement. I will post the picture of the aircraft soon.

It's replacing 4R-MRB which is currently over 11 year old. “When an aircraft is over 10 years old, it is costly to maintain them as there are regular “master checks’ to be done,” he said.

They are looking at extending Gaya flight to Kathmandu.

**Praetorian** · 03-08-2012, 08:53 PM

Whats the news on 4R-ALJ??

Also is it true that 4R-ALG and 4R-ALH have no inflight entertainment system in Economy??

**Max** · 04-08-2012, 06:58 AM

Originally posted by Banuthev

Mihin Lanka to take delivery of A321 Aircraft - Mihin Lanka will be taking delivery of A321-231 from ILFC , by September 2012. The aircraft, 4R-MRD ( MSN 1946 ) is currently parked at Perpignan – Rivesaltes Airport (PGF) in France prior delivery to Colombo. The Engines powered by 2x IAE V2533-A5. The aircraft will be acquired on a Dry-Lease Agreement. I will post the picture of the aircraft soon.

Airbus A321 - MSN 1946 - EC-INB
Status: Stored at Perpignan
Last Airline: Spanair
Last Registration: EC-INB
Delivery date: 03/04/2003
First flight date: 10/03/2003
History: Ceased operations 28/1/2012
Engines: 2 x IAE V2533-A5
Callsign: Spanair
Country: Spain

Sri Lanka Aviation

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