Sri Lanka Aviation

So, MSNs 55 and 60 are finally headed to China Airlines—they were originally meant for SriLankan before that deal fell through.
The A330neo is clearly the main focus for Malaysia Airlines moving forward, but it’s still wild to think they might actually ditch the A350s. Do you guys think SriLankan made the right call by canceling those A350s back in the day?

Well to be quite honest with you, my inner av-geek feels genuine pain when I remember the moment where the government cancelled the A350 order, it was kinda a good move financially, The A330-900 would have suited us better since it has the same type rating as the A330-300/200, and it would fit in better with our expansion stratergy as well. UL does not have the necessary demand and capacity to operate the A350 or the technically capacity right now to operate the A350,if they were considering a North America expansion, then yea, the A350 would make alot more sense and would be well aligned in their fleet stratergy. However, since the A330NEO is sufficient for the current long haul flights that UL offers, such as CMB-SYD, CMB-MEL, CMB-LHR, CMB-FRA and CMB-CDG, I believe it was kinda a good call. Though there should be quick to get the A339 into service by atleast 2039. the A333/A332s are aging.

Perhaps in the future, UL can replace their A332s with A339s, and replace their A333s with A359s. Hopefully they will also work on retiring their old A320ceos and instead work on getting more A321Ns or A320Ns. I belive that UL can be turned around in a few years time if they simply take bold decisions. the Soft Product is amazing, hospitality is great, though the Hard Product should be worked on. Thats my opinion, what do you guys think?

So, word is that a joint task force from the Bribery Commission and the CID is heading out to Australia. They’re tracking down some people involved in that $2 million bribery scandal tied to the SriLankan Airlines Airbus deal with that European airline. Heard about it on NewsWire.

Edelweiss is planning to increase its ZRH-CMB service from two to three weekly flights for the 2026/2027 winter season. This clearly reflects a rise in demand for direct flights between Europe and Sri Lanka.

Found this pic on Google. Pretty sure that's 4R-AND.

Looks like 4R-ABO is gearing up to get back into service! Spotted its ADS-B transponder active in the 320 hangar over the last few days.

SriLankan dropped their Kuwait flights with all the Middle East mess going on. Are Kuwait Airways and Jazeera still flying to CMB normally?

Screenshot_20260721_071728_Chrome.jpg

This depicts 99% reflection of my opinion. UL and Goverment has to take a Simple Bold decision.
Suggestion : A330-941 - 12 Jets + A320-251N - 2 existing Jets + A321-251N - 4 existing Jets + A321-251NX - 8 Jets.

I believe the A330neo was not available to order when UL placed its widebody aircraft order with Airbus in June 2013. UL wanted seven A350-900s as replacement aircraft for the retiring six A340s in 2016.

SriLankan also wanted six A330-343s as replacement aircraft for seven A330-243s. As far as I heard, 4R-ALR was ordered with a special configuration for presidential entourages.

The lease agreement for two A320neos and four A321neos was signed in 2016 and these were delivered from 2018.

SriLankan Airlines' active aircraft fleet in early 2014 consisted of the following types:

Airbus A320-200 (8 aircraft)
​Airbus A330-200 (7 aircraft)
​Airbus A340-300 (6 aircraft)

​I think SriLankan would have ordered four A350-900s to serve LHR, MEL, and FRA, while the rest of the premium high-density routes would have been covered by 7 x A330-343. SriLankan would have then used the second-hand 4 x A330-243s for high-density short- and medium-haul routes.

The A320neo and A321neo would have been used for the premium routes, while the A320/321ceo would have served the rest of the short- and medium-haul routes.

Please correct me if i am wrong.

SriLankan Postpones Melbourne Service Increase to Nov 2026

NW26Oneworld
Written By AeroRoutes - Jim Liu

Published at 1900PDT 22JUL26 / 0200GMT 23JUL26
SriLankan Airlines earlier this month filed changes to its planned service increase on Colombo – Melbourne route. The Oneworld member previously planned to increase service from 7 to 10 weekly from 02AUG26, however this has been postponed to 15NOV26.

The delay to this planned service increase was reflected during the week of 06JUL26’s schedule update.

UL604 CMB0035 – 1600MEL 333 D
UL608 CMB1415 – 050+1MEL 333 247

UL609 MEL0710 – 1210CMB 333 135
UL605 MEL1730 – 2230CMB 333 D