Sri Lanka Aviation

SriLankan restructuring in 6 months

The restructuring of SriLankan Airlines is expected to commence in six months, following the guidance and recommendations provided by the expert committee appointed to restructure the institution.

The Civil Aviation Ministry is expecting to receive the expert committee report within the given time. The Deputy Subject Minister, Janitha Ruwan Kodithuwakku told The Daily Morning the expert committee the Ministry has appointed is currently evaluating the proposals and their own ideas on restructuring SriLankan Airlines, and that after the evaluation, the Government will receive the report. "We will be going for restructuring after the report according to the guidance of the committee," he said.

When queried about the room for international parties to suggest restructuring models, given the Hong Kong-based private equity firm Transwell Corporation Limited had submitted a comprehensive private investor-led turnaround and restructuring proposal last week, he said those proposals will be evaluated through the committee. "There will be more proposals received by the committee to help it suggest ways to restructure this. All of them will be evaluated by the committee and they will provide us with the final restructuring model," he said.

In the wake of the Ministry's decision to restructure the loss-making SriLankan Airlines, the Cabinet of Ministers had approved last month (in July) the appointment of a special committee headed by the Presidential Senior Adviser on the Digital Economy Dr Hans Wijayasuriya to oversee the strategic review and restructuring of the SriLankan Airlines. The restructuring is planned to be done according to the model proposed.

Thst's a worrying situation 8D is further reducing the fleet quantity. Do you know the reason for this?

Does anybody know about the Plane on the right of this image?

Does anybody know about the Plane on the right of this image?

Financial Constraints, may be Capital, increased Jet fuel costs, Cash flow.
And anyways, 4R-EXR Lease period is expiring by end of this year. 4R-EXS will remain with 8D.[/FONT][/SIZE]

Livery on the tailfin of 737 advertised for a particular startup WeAir cargo, looks similar

Thanks for the update!
I am only aware of the following expansions out of Colombo and Mattala.

• Malaysia Airlines: KUL-CMB 10 weekly, 7M8 (already operating)
• Turkish Airlines : IST-CMB 11 weekly A333 (already operating).
• Qatar Airways: DOH-CMB 35 weekly, B788, B789, B77W (already operating)
• Emirates, Flydubai, SalamAir, China Eastern, Chongqing Airlines and Air Arabia have restored the frequencies recently.
• Kuwait Airways: KWI-CMB 7 weekly A32N (already operating)
• Vietjet: SGN–CMB, 3 weekly, A320, from mid-August 2026.
• Vietnam Airlines: SGN–CMB, 3 weekly, A320/1, from mid-August 2026.
• Jetstar: MEL–CMB, 3 weekly, B788, from the end of August 2026.
• FitsAir: CMB-KUL, 4 weekly A320 from early September 2026.
• Beijing Capital Airlines: PKX–CMB, 1–2 weekly, A333, from mid-September 2026.
• Aeroflot: SVO–CMB, 3 weekly, B773, from early October 2026.
• British Airways: LGW–CMB, 3 weekly, B772, from the end of October 2026.
• Edelweiss: ZRH–CMB, 2 weekly, A359, from the end of October 2026.
• Belavia: MSQ-HRI, 1 weekly, A332 from the end of October 2026.
• French Bee: ORY–CMB, 2–3 weekly, A359, from December 2026.

I feel that these airlines operating direct flights to Colombo is a significant development this year compared to last.

On a negative note, I noticed that Singapore Airlines is not operating daytime flights to Colombo from the end of October 2026. Do you know the reason for this? Also, the AirAsia Group and IndiGo have reduced their flights to Colombo.

Are there any other airlines looking to start scheduled or charter flights to Colombo in the coming months or next year?

Going to be exciting day tomorrow as Jetstar B787-8 due to touch down the schedule flight from MEL to CMB. Any chance for photos?

Here are few more updates for upcoming flight operations to Colombo and Mattala

• Fitsair cancelled the plan of resumption of CMB-KUL flights from 02 September 2026;
• Edelweiss is planning to operate 3 weekly flights to Colombo from 26 October 2026;
• Enter Air and Smartwings are due to connect Colombo with Poland cities with charter flights from 5 November 2026;
• Azur Air is going to fly direct charter flights from Russian cities to Mattala from 5 November 2026;
• No sign of flights from Redwings and Skyup to Mattala. Do we know what happened?

Could someone add the upcoming changes here in our forum?

Good to see ALR back in our service from 21-Aug.