Sri Lanka Aviation

Wow.what a news.

Hasn't QR been flying to SL with their 777's for some time now?

There are plenty of pictures floating around of the BIA with a QR aircraft parked on the apron.

Just discovered that BKK-HKK is one of the busiest routes in the world. (Sure most of you know this already, but it's news to me )

Can 4R-ALJ do the CMB-BKK-HKK sector? I know that it's lacking a galley so can't do long haul routes, but a "re-fill" at BKK should solve the problem? This sector (and onto mainland China, Korea and Japan) is very busy and very profitable. If UL is to tap into this sector and reel in the passengers, and the profit, they need to have the best product they can give. With most of the A340s & A330s being "out dated" it's not good.

Any news regarding possible upgrades for 4R-ALH & ALGs economy cabins? As they have no IFE at all. Surprised UL aquired these aircraft and did not bother giving economy IFE systems, any reasons?

UL needs good consistency throughout the fleet. Only the hop to Maldives from CMB can a lack of IFE be deemed alright.

No, I don't have any pics! Looks like 200/200LR type aircraft coz It was not that long. Don't you think that maybe it's some kind of an emergency landing???

Did you identify the B777 you saw yesterday is the cargo or the pax version ? Remember QR was sending cargo version of B77F to Colombo few months back.

Colombo Airport in 2010

Royal Jordanian & SriLankan Airlines sign codeshare agreement

Royal Jordanian finalized a new free-sale codeshare agreement with SriLankan Airlines. Thus, SriLankan Airlines may sell as many seats between Amman and Colombo as RJ, with no limitation on the number of seats sold by SriLankan.

Tickets bought according to the codeshare agreement go on sale starting with August 22, 2012, for travel starting August 26. Under the agreement, SriLankan Airlines will be the marketing carrier and will place its marketing carrier code on flights operated by Royal Jordanian (RJ) on the Amman-Colombo route.

This first stage of the agreement might be expanded in the future and transformed into a bilateral agreement, whereby RJ will put its code on the flights of the SriLankan Airlines flying beyond Colombo, after obtaining the necessary traffic rights for each carrier.

This expansion of the agreement is bound to include more points in the SriLankan Airlines network, giving more travel options to RJ travelers.

RJ President/CEO Amer Hadidi said that RJ is glad to partner with one of Asia's fastest growing airlines, acknowledged for its high-class service and reliability, particularly that it will become a full-fledged oneworld member next year.

"Our partnership will also allow us to boost the oneworld global network in a region of high air travel demand," he said.

SriLankan Airlines' CEO, Kapila Chandrasena, said: "Royal Jordanian becomes SriLankan's sixth codeshare partner, and the first that is a full-fledged oneworld member. We look forward to a future that will give us more opportunities together with Royal Jordanian, where we will build on the synergies of the two networks and explore avenues of cooperation."

SriLankan Airlines has been elected as a oneworld member and is expected to join the global alliance late next year. With this agreement, RJ's codeshare agreements with the oneworld carriers reaches six: American Airlines, Air Berlin, British Airways, Iberia, Siberia airlines, in addition to the member elect SriLankan Airlines. RJ has such agreements with other international airlines, including US Airways, Tarom, Gulf Air, Syrian Air and Malaysia Airlines.

RJ has been running regular service to Colombo since 1991, and currently operates three weekly flights.

Well, I saw QR logo in the tail and sounded like a B777. And I was at a call at that moment so there's not enough time to go out of my home. EK348(300ER) departed couple of minutes after and it was relatively long. That's why I said It looks like some kind of 200/200LR type one! and maybe it could be a B777F(I hv no Idea how long it is)!

I do not think it is B777Pax; I am not sure QR can operate any thing larger than A321 on Colombo route. Down graded ASA signed in 2010 does not allow anything larger than A321 to operate on the daily 4th frequency (if QR choose to operate 4th daily) or on all frequencies; but I am not sure (some one can clarify on this). I know previously they used to operate A300/A310.

How many frequencies do they do, are there restrictions placed by SL Gov?

I remember in december 2010, QR used to operate A330-300, but in that time they only operated 2 flights daily.

SriLankan to open training centre in Maldives
http://www.dailynews.lk/2012/08/23/bus03.asp

While this sounds all feely goody and i'm sure there are advantages, i hope this some stealth move to further ensure all Maldivian aviation is tied up with SL and we keep a good stranglehold.

Not correct. QR added its 3rd daily Colombo in Mar 2010.

28 per week; they are utilizing 21 so far...there are some restriction on the aircraft type and fare as well; some thing like 14 flights per week utilizing A320 family (some one need to verify this)...before 2010, ASA between Qatar and Sri Lanka was a mini Open Sky

@ kenkari...If I remember correctly they did operate A330 not sure which period it was.
@ skyline...you are right they are operating 3 flights since early 2010

Well if the BA operate from LHR it can defiantly can go to the kill...specially YYZ/YYC/YUL etc., US, Caribbean and most European traffic (not to forget UK itself). flying from LGW restrict it to only mostly UK holiday traffic. ex Sri Lankans in UK mostly prefer to fly via LHR does not want to take the train and spend additional min GBP 100 (for a family of 4) on a train tickets to LGW. LHR has good road (M4/M25) and tube connection to connect with rest of UK. but any way good news...but not for me (arriving from any of the Canadian gateways) I would not do a LHR/LGW transfer