Sri Lanka Aviation

Well this is an old news... in fact what had happen they have resume 5 flights a day frequency along with the season..
i guess Qatar is now only foreign career to have 5 flights a day..

there was a rumor sometimes back (last year) Emirates also wants to increase DXB-CMB frequency .. any update on this

SriLankan Airlines confirmed plans to suspend three times weekly Colombo-Visakhapatnam service, effective 27 October

CMB-HYD is doing okay right now but more support needed. Average load factor is 70% but the yield is very low. I prefer they resume Kozhikode or start serving Ahamabad or something where we can make some money

Sri Lankan Catering IPO blocked by Treasury at last minute: inquiry

ECONOMYNEXT- A public listing of the catering unit of Sri Lankan airlines in 2011 to raise 42 million dollars was blocked by the Treasury at the last minute, de-railing a restructuring and planned cashflows of the carrier, an official told a commission of inquiry.

Head of Financial Management Yasantha Dissanayake, testifying at a Presidential Commission of Inquiry, said that the initial public offering (IPO) for SriLankan Catering was ready to launch, with applications submitted to the Colombo Stock Exchange and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

"It was ready to go but the Treasury rejected it," he said.

Then Chief Executive Manoj Gunawardena had planned the IPO, and the Bank of Ceylon had done a lot of work as the manager for the issue, Dissanayake said.

"A lot of work was done. We converted some director positions to independent directors as per listing requirements and a prospectus was done," he said.

Upon questioning from Senior Deputy Solicitor General Niel Unamboowe, Dissanayake said he believes the Treasury had given the initial go ahead for the IPO, which sought to list 40 percent of SriLankan Catering to raise 42 million dollars.

He said during this period, SriLankan Airlines was facing a negative net cash flow which was worse than budgeted each month, and its equity was beginning to deteriorate.

He said that fuel prices were rising after falling in 2009, putting pressure on the airline’s costs.

"The IPO which was to come never came. That made the problem worse," he said.

Dissanayake in earlier testimony had said that a 2008 business plan formulated by Gunawardena and then Chief Financial Officer Senaka Chandrasekara sought to raise 50 million dollars by listing minority stakes of SriLankan Catering and SriLankan Ground Handling and another 30 million dollars by listing a small stake of SriLankan Engineering.

However, Dissanayake yesterday said that then Treasury Secretary P. B. Jayasundera had halted the business plan, saying he preferred a more aggressive one.

Jayasundera had also prevented bonds given for re-structuring to be sold to raise cash for current spending, the commission heard. (Colombo/Sept27/2018)

The lease rates on the new fleet are so high that it is impossible to make money operating these aircraft.

Makes no difference where they operate to.

I don't believe there are any profitable routes - massive losses support this. I have yet to hear anyone at UL claim any routes are profitable.

Even Suren has written about this - although he was quite happy to collect big money for doing absolutely nothing!

Yes QR has resumed 5th Daily flights to Colombo Airport. Please find the flight time table and the photo which shows 2xQR aircraft parked at CMB.

DOH-CMB
01:00-08:45-QR656-A320-DAILY
02:10-09:55-QR664-EQV-DAILY
07:35-15:20-QR654-EQV-MO.TU.TH.FR.SA.SU
10:00-17:45-QR654-A346-DAILY
18:00-01:45-QR668-B773-DAILY
19:00-02:50-QR662-A350-DAILY

photo source : lankaflyer

More Ground Time = More Profits

Cardinal, politics, force SriLankan to fly to Rome, Moscow despite losses: inquiry

I'd definitely opt for AMD over any other destination in India, quite simply because of Cargo Volume as well as High Outbound Traffic in terms of Pax

Most Airfreight from AMD come to Lanka via either BOM or DEL which increase lead times.
Thereby a 3-4 x Weekly Connection would be recommended

According to a post on airliners.net Etihad Cargo has pulled out of CMB, are Columbus charters affected as well?

I wonder why CMB should be affected from EY Cargo's restructuring network. Because EY's CMB freighters are being deployed on B77F but EY are returning only 5xA33F to DHL. Trinity Logistics have informed recently that they have very good freighter demand from CMB and renewing the cargo-shipping contract with EY effective Oct 2018.

Rome flights were reinstated due to a request from the Sri Lankan diaspora living in Italy.

Etihad Cargo schedule shows 12 Oct and 29 Oct as last two services inluding CMB-LCK i.e Columbus, unless they are yet to load winter schedule.

Btw the A33F launch customer were EY and they were sold to DHL.

More and more revelations and still no arrests or charges against any people named so far.

SriLankan Airlines increases flights to London Heathrow Airport

SriLankan Airlines will be increasing the frequency of flights to London Heathrow Airport from 7 to 9 weekly , effective 27 October 2018.

Currently, SriLankan's 7 weekly flights are departing Colombo at 13:05hrs and arriving in London at 20:00hrs and the return flight from London departing at 21:30hrs and arriving in Colombo at 12:45hrs.

SriLankan has revised the flight times to London and going to operate the additional seasonal flights on Saturdays & Sundays for European Winter season.

All SriLankan's London flights are operated onboard state of art brand new Airbus A330-343 aircraft.

Winter 2018 Flight Schedule

CMB-LHR- 02:20-08:40-UL505-AIRBUS A333 - SAT.SUN
CMB-LHR- 12:50-19:10-UL501-AIRBUS A333 - DAILY

LHR-CMB-12:35-04:35-UL506-AIRBUS A333 - SAT.SUN
LHR-CMB-20:40-12:40-UL502-AIRBUS A333 - DAILY