Sri Lanka Aviation

**n863gt** · 22-03-2025, 05:54 PM

Originally posted by banuthev

Notsure if its true but I heard UL struggling to find A330 with Rolls Royse Engines. In the meantime UL need to lease more A320/A321ceo SL aircraft with 5/6 years lease to recover the capacity of Asian destinations that within 5hrs reach from CMB. The current A320/A321neo fleet have to be used for +5 to 6hrs flights from CMB. e.g. HKG, KWI, RUH, CAN, JED,

UL might need some extra aircraft if they would go on with this schedule.(considering a margin for maintenance disruptions)
are -343/-243 A330s hard to acquire?(I don't really know) ->this might be for simpler maintenance and operation procedures since UL is used to the RR A330
as you said, UL needs to introduce new aircraft types in the near future. maybe take up the 4 A359 slots that are leased?
to do any of these though, UL needs finances and the govt. needs to support it.
do you think privatizing UL like in the 1998-2008 era would work again?

**n863gt** · 22-03-2025, 06:00 PM

4R-EXR out of service? MAW2000
also, does 4R-EXJ still belong to 8D or not?

**n863gt** · 22-03-2025, 06:54 PM

Originally posted by airclub

Hello,
The plane is in nice livery
MSN 1261

any new photos on MSN 1261?

**ULlove** · 23-03-2025, 06:33 AM

Oman Air retired its A330's that were on lease to QR. I Believe 7 or 9 of them. Are they on the market for UL???? Flew them a few times and if UL just takes them on as they are we have a solid fleet for another 10 yrs. and Rolls Royce Powered also.

**n863gt** · 23-03-2025, 07:33 AM

Originally posted by ULlove

Oman Air retired its A330's that were on lease to QR. I Believe 7 or 9 of them. Are they on the market for UL???? Flew them a few times and if UL just takes them on as they are we have a solid fleet for another 10 yrs. and Rolls Royce Powered also.

they might be of good choice, though they do have different seatings than UL does.
WY A332: C30Y196 UL A332(4R-ALH):C18Y252
WY A333: C24Y265 UL A333:C28Y269

their A333s are of similar age to UL's older A333s(4R-ALL/M/N), which is ~10y
their A332s are slightly younger than 4R-ALS.

all of WY's A330s(except A4O-DH) are parked/maintenance.
source: planespotters.net

edit: and yes, they all run on the trent 772B

**MAW2000** · 23-03-2025, 08:54 AM

Originally posted by n863gt

4R-EXR out of service? MAW2000
also, does 4R-EXJ still belong to 8D or not?

4R-EXR is in hangars of GMR Aero technic, HYD awaiting a heavy maintenance,
4R-EXJ, withdrawn from use and removed from fleet in 2014 or 2013

**n863gt** · 23-03-2025, 08:55 AM

Originally posted by MAW2000

4R-EXR is in hangars of GMR Aero technic, HYD awaiting a heavy maintenance,
4R-EXJ, withdrawn from use and removed from fleet in 2014 or 2013

okay, thanks!!
edit: this is apparently my 100^_th post!

**ULlove** · 23-03-2025, 11:15 AM

Originally posted by n863gt

they might be of good choice, though they do have different seatings than UL does.
WY A332: C30Y196 UL A332(4R-ALH):C18Y252
WY A333: C24Y265 UL A333:C28Y269

their A333s are of similar age to UL's older A333s(4R-ALL/M/N), which is ~10y
their A332s are slightly younger than 4R-ALS.

all of WY's A330s(except A4O-DH) are parked/maintenance.
source: planespotters.net

edit: and yes, they all run on the trent 772B

That's why UL must take them onboard. Forget the configuration. Saves us costs on reconfiguring as we saw earlier with -ALS and now -ALT.. We can just update it slightly to the UL branding and onboard them. The interiors are too good for a 10 yr old aircraft.We can easily deploy them to FRA,CDG,SYD,MEL,NRT,ICN,DXB,SIN,JED,RUH,DMM (if we restart) and LHR (If they are the 242 MTOW birds). Easily UL will leapfrog interns of onboard experience as we already have a good soft product.

**n863gt** · 24-03-2025, 01:43 PM

Originally posted by ULlove

That's why UL must take them onboard. Forget the configuration. Saves us costs on reconfiguring as we saw earlier with -ALS and now -ALT.. We can just update it slightly to the UL branding and onboard them. The interiors are too good for a 10 yr old aircraft.We can easily deploy them to FRA,CDG,SYD,MEL,NRT,ICN,DXB,SIN,JED,RUH,DMM (if we restart) and LHR (If they are the 242 MTOW birds). Easily UL will leapfrog interns of onboard experience as we already have a good soft product.

you're not wrong though, might be good if they give a shot at it, because this is a rare chance

**MAW2000** · 24-03-2025, 05:48 PM

Sad News,

8D cancelled TRV flights since CMB TRV CMB route has a very low pax and cargo demand.

**MAW2000** · 24-03-2025, 05:58 PM

8D EXV Summer Schedule 2025

please refer to the attached image and below flight number guide.

Middle East - 8D8XX
Indian Sub-continent - 8D9XX
South-East Asia - 8D7XX

Hub/Home Base : CMB / VCBI

8D92X - MLE
8D93X - DAC
8D95X - TRV
8D82X - DXB
8D72X - KUL

Attached Files

Summer 2025.jpg (72.8 KB, 84 views)

**A359** · 24-03-2025, 07:56 PM

Originally posted by n863gt

you're not wrong though, might be good if they give a shot at it, because this is a rare chance

These aircraft would have been ideal for UL to acquire. But per the Qatar Airways discussion on another site, these seven A330s are going to be painted in QR colors, registered in Qatar and and operational in the Summer.

**banuthev** · 24-03-2025, 08:53 PM

Originally posted by MAW2000

4R-EXR is in hangars of GMR Aero technic, HYD awaiting a heavy maintenance,
4R-EXJ, withdrawn from use and removed from fleet in 2014 or 2013

Heavy maint for 8Q-IAN took almost 8 months to complete in KUL. Since 4R-EXR was ferried to HYD for heavy maint on the 29-Jan-25, we may not see 4R-EXR anytime soon in CMB if I am not mistaken.

4R-EXJ was ferried from MLT to NBO for storage in 2013/2014. Do you know if the aircraft still in NBO or scrapped?

**banuthev** · 24-03-2025, 09:13 PM

Originally posted by MAW2000

Sad News,

8D cancelled TRV flights since CMB TRV CMB route has a very low pax and cargo demand.

That's sad really. Noted 8D removed all the TRV promotion banner from the website and facebook. Seems Indian destinations are not doing good for 8D. 8D dropped TRZ in the past for commercial reasons and this year dropped TRV and MAA (dropped MAA until end of Oct25)

I highly doubt if there is much O&D traffic between TRV and CMB. I think 8D may have targeted TRV pax to do transit at CMB onwards DXB flights.

**WizzWaveSien** · 25-03-2025, 03:51 AM

A359EKATCMB.jpg
Hi everyone, good news, EK is finally switching to A359 on their EK654/5 route from today! After a delay of three months. EK will now be the second A359 operator to CMB after QR and later SQ.

Attached Files

A359EKATCMB.jpg (64.7 KB, 74 views)

Sri Lanka Aviation

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