Sri Lanka Aviation

Yes i see last flight operated on the 15-Jul so operated for only 3 months. I wonder if it's suspended due to lack of passenger demand. I saw on the news Sri Lanka tourism didn't do well in 2024, may be due the issue with e-visa. I see China Eastern and Air China also planning to reduce CMB flights from 7 weekly to 3/4 weekly. Very sad.

Sri Lanka is issuing free-visa scheme. Hopefully tourism will get better,

It's possible, the first flight arrived with around 78 passengers as far as I am aware, not really great or ideal considering the max passengers for an A320NEO is 170 passengers, But I think the remaining passengers disembarked to the Maldives, I believe SL should market itself as a Bali/Phuket alternative to get more tourists and I think the free visa scheme being introduced is great and all, Sadly the VFS global controversy kind of slowed tourism. Hopefully tourism picks up during the winter months.


Air Seychelles has also reduced flights from SEZ TO CMB from twice weekly to once weekly and China Eastern has reduced KMG-CMB flights from daily to one weekly, they have also stopped serving the Maldives as well on their KMG-CMB-MLE route. Such a shame honestly!

Good to know that they are planing to resume flights once again - tried chasing after their 737 Max 8 on the MAA-CMB sector towards the end of last year but a last minute aircraft change got us 737-700 which was an even better deal.

AirSial, a private airline in Pakistan, is stated to start direct flight operations between Colombo and Islamabad, Sri Lankan High Commissioner Admiral (Retired) Ravindra Chandrasiri Wijegunaratne said. Air Sial receives authorisation to operate Islamabad-Colombo service. AirSial is set to expand its fleet with the addition of two aircraft early next year, in preparation for launching international operations from Pakistan to China, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkiye, the United Kingdom, and Kuwait


Is this a new flight route Tehran-Colombo haven’t seen it before?

4R-ALH inactive since 18 august?

Totally Agree with Umedha - way too many planned startups, very few actually materializing

If so Air Ceilao was to commence Ops, any idea what business model they’d adopt? A hybrid would be the best option right now

Agreed 100%

Also to add a few more airlines to the list, I honestly missed airlines such as Oman Air, Kuwait Airways & Saudia who have stopped ops to CMB on my recent trip to Saudi Arabia having returned a couple of days ago

Currently UL do not serve JED which is a huge inconvenience specially for Umrah pax. I believe they benefited quite a bit on this sector with pilgrims connecting form CGK, MAA, TRZ and COK when they did operate. Puzzles me why they only serve DMM and RUH now

UL does not seem to care of the pilgrim traffic and with Riyadh Air launching soon, they’d definitely be in on the demand from CMB

In terms of the limited options to connect to JED, Tickets too are horribly expensive - we few FlyDubai as we had a very limited handful of options available (fares kept increasing day by day) FZ’s hard product is highly inconsistent with a mix of Max 8’s and 738’s being flown to and from DXB

8D unfortunately does not have the capacity to serve JED however I did see it somewhere that JED, DMK and KUL were their “focus-destinations” which they’d probably launch once they receive their wide-bodies in the near future

As of now the only glimmer of hope in the Sri Lankan Aviation market right now is FitsAir (they are still in their early stages of growth) - what they have archived to date is noteworthy and with Perter Hill at the helm, they would definitely be a force to recon with in the future

4R-ALH is active now but 4R-ALS

4R-ALS is back in service now.

Thanks for highlighting the absense of WY, KU and SV at CMB. What's the reason these airlines are still pulling out of CMB ? SV's last flight back in 2019. GF also currently flying via MLE instead of nonstop to CMB. Salamair is going to reduce flights to CMB. Saudi based airlines such as Flynas & Flyadeal also not keen to fly CMB. I am wondering why? Is it due to the domination of QR, EK, FZ and EY?



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there is rumor fits air making losses is that true?

4R-ALR is inactive since 23rd AUG

Good question
I suppose that with the present taxes and levies imposed on flights to CMB would not make since for them to operate as their competitive advantage (low fares) may not be as low enough to challenge the existing competitors as you have mentioned.
In my recent experience LCC fares offered by FZ, G9 and OV's to the middle east are almost similar to the legacy carriers QR, EK, EY etc. - also pax. would prefer to pay the fare difference to fly with a legacy carrier with its value additions

SG would utilize their 737-800 and the ad-hoc 737 Max 8

ET & KQ would probably work out, as a gateway to Africa and the Middle East
I feel ET would have the best potential out of the two

Agree with this, this can be another Flylankan, Sparkair, Air Peace....
as said, we need a legacy flag carreir with luxurious service, budget airline but with a better comfortability than Indian LCCs, and one dedicated Cargo airline...
If we have capacity or space we can start another airline..
Sri Lankan Market should be dominated by Sri Lankan owned airlines, just like UL, 8D...
nowadays foriegn airlines are covering all routes to SL.

As an reply to all comments on Fits air, (this can be toooo long to read)

I would like to say, Airlines are dealing with Pax and Cargo, So there should be a reason to fly to a certain destination, our topic is CMB, SL.
If there are no reasons to fly to CMB, pax and cargo demand is decreasing, (simple logic)
That is why many airlines stopped flying to CMB. This is affecting Home based airlines also, our dearest UL and 8D.
Reasons for major issues with UL,
There is an operating profit but losses due to financial costs.
No growth without Fleet modernization or adding even used aircrafts but with a better consistent cabin interiors. (4R-ALT is coming as far as i know, with few more A330s)
No support from Government and Sri Lankan nationals .
Lack of Airport facilities at BIA (typical issue connected with Economic issues.)

8D is currently having many many issues.
As usual finance sucks.
Technical issues are rising due to the age of aircrafts, 4R-EXR is coming back to here after wet -lease ops for G9,
They are reducing CMB-MAA-CMB flights due to lower demand, Like for CMB-MLE-CMB, cannot say the new frequencies.(meanwhile 6E is increasing)
Still DAC route is struggling, but there is a small increment in Pax figures compared to its inception.
CMB-DXB-CMB is performing well, letting 8D to increase frequencies, (can be up to double daily)
Cannot start JED flights with 5 hour airplanes.
No plans for more airplanes, since market prices and lease costs are high due to global shortage. EXR will support if 8D is planning new routes as they said.
Fuel costs are high, and aircrafts are not as fuel efficient as the A32Ns and A320WLs.

On both UL and 8D, commercial teams are lagging behind and even they don’t know about operations.