Sri Lanka Aviation

[Srilankan1]

SriLankan Airlines will send a relief flight on Sunday to Frankfurt for 240 passengers stranded due to an airport labour disruption. The passengers were stranded on Friday when SriLankan airlines flight UL554 was forced to depart the airport without 240 passengers. All airlines operating out of terminal 2 were asked to depart without boarding passengers on Friday following a strike by security workers.

Sunday’s relief flight will operate from London to Colombo with a special stop in Frankfurt for stranded passengers. Passengers were given accommodation at nearby hotels, according to the airline.

The airport resumed operations today.

http://lankareporter.com/lr/2014/02/22/srilankan-airlines-relief-flight-for-240-stranded-passengers-in-frankfurt/

[CalgaryLankan]

Looks like Royal Jordanian is pulling out of Sri Lanka from 01st of May 2014. (source; Airlineroute twitter feed)

https://twitter.com/airlineroute/status/437702541376106496

[Srilankan1]

Kapila costs millions to SriLankan Airlines

The CEO of SriLankan Airlines Kapila Chandrasena has caused a loss of millions to the company, reports say.

The particular loss has occurred after a SriLankan flight which departed to Frankfurt in Germany has returned without a single passenger (empty).

Due to a strike launched by the security officers at the Frankfurt Airport the flight had been unable to board passengers after reaching the said airport on Friday ( Feb 21).

The number of passengers expected to board the flight has been nearly 200, reports add.

After Kapila Chandrasena was informed of the situation he has instructed the 13 crew members to remain at the airport and the captain and first officer to bring back the flight without passengers.

Accordingly, the flight has left for Sri Lanka leaving 11 cabin crew and 2 tech crew members behind.

Read more >>>> https://www.srilankamirror.com/news/...ankan-airlines

[Srilankan1]

Passengers tell of terrible experience on diverted SriLankan Airlines flight

Feedback is pouring in on our story last week about SriLankan Airlines flight UL195 that was diverted from New Delhi to Jaipur for refuelling. The aircraft reached its destination three hours past the scheduled time of arrival on February 12. The New Delhi-bound flight carried some high profile personalities, including Indian High Commission diplomats, a well-known book publisher and a multi-millionaire businessman.

One of the VIP passengers described his experience as “terrible”. ”We were to land in Delhi, our blankets were collected, our earphones were collected and, then, the pilot announced that he was 15th on the list to land while the airport signboard said the plane was landing at 5.23 pm.” This passenger had a friend waiting in New Delhi to pick him up.

“Then he said we have been diverted to Jaipur,” he reported. “Not once were we told why. We landed and were kept on the ground for nearly three hours. Security got in at Jaipur and we wondered whether there was some problem. Then, finally, we were told the plane was taking off. I think it was about 10 p.m. when we landed in Delhi.”

Read Full Article >>> http://www.sundaytimes.lk/140223/col...ght-86666.html

[ejanson65]

There are plenty of talented, qualified and motivated people working at UL. Tragically they are not the ones in charge.

Instead the so called "Management" consists of boot-licking toadies, yes -men, sycophants, and unqualified family members. The results speak for themselves.

They couldn't manage their way out of a paper bag.

[CalgaryLankan]

I am not sure Jaipur diversion can be put in to same bucket as Singapore diversion or flying A330 out of FRA without crew. On that day many flights left FRA with only few transit pax those who could make it to the gate. However, not sure why a/c flew without crew and crew flying next day as pax.

[kenkari]

Copenhagen airport is looking for new intercontinal destinations, and they have an eye for Colombo. So maybe SriLankan Airlines will resume CPH service: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8Zb_URjHaU

[NeatStuff]

A high-octane drama unfolded at the international airport in Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala on Tuesday when Customs and Central Excise enforcers forced a Sri Lankan Airlines plane, bound for Colombo, to land 20 minutes after it became airborne and arrested three passengers on board on the charge of attempting to smuggle red sanders, a fragrant wood, concealed in their check-in baggage.

The team, led by Assistant Commissioner, Air Customs, Sanjay Bangarcale and Superintendent M. Balachandran, found the contraband wood, 100 kg in all, covered in a black synthetic material, which seemed impervious to the X-ray scanner operated by Sri Lankan Airways at its check-in baggage counter.

Enforcers described the method of operation as ‘relatively new’ and said it could be a trial run to smuggle more valuable contraband items, including firearms.

Those arrested were identified as Siva Prasad Nair, 35; Mahin Abu Basheer Siddique, 43; and Thirupuram Balaraman. Investigators were verifying their antecedents.

Mr. Bangarcale and his team were on a stake-out at the airport following information that three members of a family, including women, were smuggling gold from Colombo to India on flight UL 161, which touched down here around 8.45 a.m.

They found the information to be false. Meanwhile, the flight’s call sign was changed to UL 162 for its trip back to Colombo at 9.30 a.m. By 9.40 a.m., Mr. Bangarcale received reliable information that three passengers onboard UL 162 had some high-value contraband concealed in their check-in baggage.

The aerobridge to the flight had by then been disconnected and the aircraft moved away from the apron area to the runway for taxiing and take-off. The Customs officials contacted their Additional Commissioner Sofia M. Joy for permission to stop the flight. She verified the credibility of the source of information and gave her team the go ahead.

The flight took off and the Customs enforcers were not able to get in touch with the air-traffic control, ostensibly because they did not have wireless sets on hand.

The enforcers contacted an ATC staff on his mobile phone. The flight had been airborne for nearly 20 minutes and was fast approaching its destination.

The ATC contacted the flight and asked the pilot to turn back.

Flight UL 162 touched down at the airport here at 10.30 a.m. Customs enforcers used a mobile stairway bridge to board the flight. The passenger manifesto, which also showed where the suspects were seated, allowed them to detain the alleged carriers without causing inconvenience to other passengers.(

[ejanson65]

I am not sure Jaipur diversion can be put in to same bucket as Singapore diversion or flying A330 out of FRA without crew. On that day many flights left FRA with only few transit pax those who could make it to the gate. However, not sure why a/c flew without crew and crew flying next day as pax.

Well - it's a mess in Delhi. You never know what to expect. They are unable to give you an estimated approach time. All the more reason to take extra fuel. Don't know how accurate the press report is but 30 minutes extra is far less than I would consider acceptable on this flight.

I'd put this in the category "Things that shouldn't have happened" - far too many of these events imho.

[Srilankan1]

SriLankan Airlines flies to Vietnam; more Australasian cities

Published on Thursday, 27 February 2014 08:13

State-run SriLankan Airlines said it will fly to Vietnam and expand destinations to Malaysia and Australia through a new code share deal with Malaysian Airlines.

SriLankan will fly to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City via Kuala Lumpur.

"Traffic between Sri Lanka and Vietnam is expected to grow as Vietnam’s socio-economic stability and close cultural ties are increasingly attracting visitors between Vietnam and Sri Lanka," the company said in a statement.

SriLankan will also offer connections from Kuala Lumpur to the islands of Penang and Lankawi, which are popular beach resorts.

Daily services will be added to Adelaide, Bribane and Perth. Already Melbourne and Sydney is offered through a code share through Kuala Lumpur.

Mohamed Fazeel, SriLankan’s head of commercial operations said the new code share will increase traffic between Sri Lanka and Australasia, which had high tourist traffic growth of 25.3 percent in 2013.

https://www.srilankamirror.com/news/13638-srilankan-airlines-flies-to-vietnam-more-australasian-cities

[banuthev]

SriLankan Airlines flies to Vietnam; more Australasian cities

SriLankan needs direct flight connection to Australia. Codeshare doesn't help much. I heard Sri Lanka - South Africa governments plans direct flights.

[Sanji]

SriLankan needs direct flight connection to Australia. Codeshare doesn't help much. I heard Sri Lanka - South Africa governments plans direct flights.

Yes they need a direct flight to Sydney or Melbourne sooner rather than later... surely it will top priority in the next FY.

[MalaysiaMustafa]

But due to the AIS system glitch, it's showing the frequencies of IXM flights as four weekly on routing CMB-IXM and five weekly on IXM-CMB. Perhaps it will be corrected in few days.

It is corrected now with 5x weekly. Days of frequency is changed. From Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun to Mon, Wed, Thu, Sat, Sun.

[Aviational]

Mihin Lanka to take over MRIA
By Damith Wickramasekara
View(s):

Mihin Lanka will take over the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport operations from SriLankan Airlines soon, Civil Aviation Minister Priyankara Jayaratne said yesterday. He said the move would mean that Mihin Lanka, now based at the Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake, would shift to Mattala and undertake the operations including ground handling, maintenance and refuelling among other functions.

‘The objective of this exercise is to make Mihin Lanka a viable entity so that it will have ways of generating income. It will be able to enter into agreements with different airlines through this system,” Mr. Jayaratne said. The minister said a separate Board of Directors would be appointed for Mihin Lanka but under the same Chairman of SriLankan Airlines. The Board of Directors would be responsible for turning the organization into a profit making institution.

Mr. Jayaratne said an independent committee would also be appointed to Mihin Lanka to recommend ways of reducing losses. At present Mihin Lanka has three aircraft and would increase the number of flights following the changes, he said. The Minister said that under the plans to improve Mihin Lanka they hope to introduce additional packages to selected destinations. Mihin Lanka lost more than Rs 2.8 billion in 2012 and last year’s estimated loss rose sky-high to a staggering Rs. 1.4 billion.

www.sundaytimes.lk

This is a good move.And I think Mihin Should operate there ground handeling as a seperate company(Like DNATA).So in long term they can take operations in other Airports across the world.

[4R-ALA]

This is a good move.And I think Mihin Should operate there ground handeling as a seperate company(Like DNATA).So in long term they can take operations in other Airports across the world.

yep. this gives UL time to focus on long haul/regional flights in/out of CMB only and also gives HRI a based carrier which is MJ.