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SriLankan Airlines Catering, the sole caterer at the island's international airport which is planning to go public this year, hopes to expand its catering services to other airlines that touchdown at the Bandaranaike International Airport.
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Immigration and Emigration Department has set up an Electronic Travel Authority to simplify the visa process and facilitate short stay visitors.
http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2011/04/17/new11.aspComment
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Civil Aviation Minister Priyankara Jayarathne has called upon the educational authorities to introduce aviation as a subject and later for a degree in the university curriculum.
http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2011/04/17/new34.aspComment
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Unless its changed since 2006, UL is restricted into Indian metro cities but can operate unlimited flights into 18 secondary cities. See the following press release for details:
http://www.hcicolombo.org/index.php?...k=detail&id=47India allows additional flights to Sri Lankan Airlines
October 07, 2006
Bilateral Air Services Negotiations between India and Sri Lanka were held on October 9, 2006. The Indian delegation was led by Mr. Ajay Prasad, Secretary, Civil Aviation, Government of India and the Sri Lankan delegation was led by Mr. Tilak Collure, Secretary, Ministry of Ports and Aviation. The negotiations reinforced the special position Sri Lanka enjoys in the aviation sector in India. Sri Lankan Airlines is already the largest foreign airlines operating into India with 86 weekly flights. Sri Lankan Airlines already have the permission to operate daily flights to six Indian metropolitan cities and unlimited frequencies to 18 tourist destinations in India. The 3 Indian carriers - Indian, Jet and Sahara - operate 21 weekly flights to Sri Lanka.
During the negotiations, the Indian side allowed Sri Lankan Airlines 7 additional weekly flights to Mumbai and 7 additional flights to Bangalore with effect from winter 2008. India also allowed 7 weekly flights to Coimbatore and Pune. Sri Lanka has enjoyed "SAARC Plus" privileges in the civil aviation sector in India. During the 13th SAARC Summit at Dhaka in 2005, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh extended to all SAARC countries the same privileges as were extended to Sri Lanka. To continue the special relationship with Sri Lanka, the
Indian delegation agreed for additional flights to Mumbai, Bangalore, Coimbatore and Pune which would further strengthen the presence of Sri Lankan Airlines in the civil aviation map of India.
Mr. Ajay Prasad called on Hon'ble Mr. Mangala Samaraweera, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ports and Aviation on October 11, 2006. During the meeting, matters of bilateral importance in the field of civil aviation were discussed. Mr. Samaraweera appreciated India's gesture on awarding additional frequencies to Sri Lankan Airlines. He evinced interest in the public-private partnership model followed for the Cochin International Airport. Mr. Prasad informed the Minister about plans for upgradation of aviation infrastructure in India including modernization of the 35 airports in the country. He also elaborated on plans for acquiring new aircraft by Air India and Indian at a cost of US $ 9 billion and a proposed purchase of aircraft by the private sector Indian airlines at a cost of US $ 7 billion. Restarting Sri Lankan Airlines flights to Bodhgaya was also discussed. Mr. Prasad said that as a special gesture, the Indian government permitted Sri Lankan Airlines to extend the Colombo-Bodhgaya flight to Colombo-Bodhgaya-Delhi sector.Comment
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@lorvader, it has changed since then.
In fact it was changed in mid 2007, when the restrictions was lifted. However With the changes inducted from this meeting you quoted above:
Metros: BOM, DEL, HYD, CCU, BLR, MAA.
A total of 105 weekly flights to each side were allotted to each side, and the clauses were as follows for Sri Lankan carriers.
* Not more than 21 weekly flights to BOM
* Not more than 21 weekly flights to MAA
* Not more than 14 weekly flights to DEL
* Not more than 14 weekly flights to BLR
* Not more than 14 weekly flights to HYD
* Not more than 7 weekly flights to CCU
* Not more than 7 weekly flights to CJB
* Not more than 7 weekly flights to PNQ
And in the present circumstances this is what UL operates to the metros
* 10 weekly to BOM
* 7 weekly to DEL
* 7 weekly to BLR
* 15 weekly to MAA
* no flights to CCU, HYD.
So even if we assume that I'm completely wrong, and this bilateral holds true I do not know what is blocking UL's expansion to India. Or even compare the flights from Metros by Indian and Sri Lankan carriers. Indian carriers have 63 weekly flights from metros whereas UL just has 39 weekly flights from metros. So UL still has a lot of underutilized capacity.
Also do note in that article SAARC countries have some privileges with respect to businesses in India and Sri Lankan falls under that purview and thus enjoys a relatively liberal business policy.
However I do stand corrected on the open skies fact, while the nature is unrestrictive, there are certain caps and restrictions on the 5th freedom rights beyond both countries.Comment
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Thanks for the info Ojas. Good to have an Indian perspective here as well. I think (and hope) UL will start expanding into India soon, with the expansion of their narrowbody fleet. Most of their Indian flights were cut due to profitability reasons in the Global Financial Crisis so depending on the situation now, they could be restarted. I agree with you that UL are currently underserving India. Additional destinations they could look at include Kolkata and Ahmedabad and maybe Pune (although MJ could fly to Pune as an alternative to BOM).Comment
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I think UL will now be only interested in Indian destinations with some O&D. This is because the gulf connections provided during Peter Hill's tenure are no longer viable due to newer direct flights.
Unfortunately Sri Lanka does not have or allow any private intl pax carriers otherwise it could be argued that UL was operating the 15th weekly MAA flight as a gun in the head to stop a private carrier from operating a daily flight. However given that Indian carriers will soon operate 49 weekly CMB flights from MAA, it seems unfair that Sri Lankan carriers are just allowed 21.Last edited by Kflyer; 18-04-2011, 02:12 AM.The opinions above are solely my own and do not reflect those of my employer or clientsComment
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What is the Total Fleet of Srilankan now?Comment
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Superb Stats.
Thanks Ojas.Comment
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5 320, 5 343, 5 332 + 2 dhcThe opinions above are solely my own and do not reflect those of my employer or clientsComment
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@ojas thanks. But Bahrain Air never served CMB.The opinions above are solely my own and do not reflect those of my employer or clientsComment
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SriLankan Airlines to recruit from rural areas
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Is it? I thought Bahrain Air had served CMB.
I've edited it out.Comment
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