Sri Lanka Aviation

[Serendib]

Does anybody know the current situation of Mattala Airport? has it started making profit? Names of the airline operating over there? any ideas how to make Mattala airport succesfull?

[flylanka]

HRI Airport

Does anybody know the current situation of Mattala Airport? has it started making profit? Names of the airline operating over there? any ideas how to make Mattala airport succesfull?

I don't believe any airline other than UL and Fly Dubai operate there on a regular schedule. There may be a some charters calling in. Don't think it is profitable by a long shot. To make it profitable. I would like to see the initial business plan for HRI if there is one.

[Rainer]

Names of the airline operating over there?

Take a look http://www.airport.lk/hia/MRIA_FLT_SCHED_Nov_2014.pdf

[anthonylk]

SriLankan Airlines has loaded preliminary schedule for Winter 2015/16 season into the GDS, which sees Colombo – London Heathrow route scheduled to be operated by the new A330-300 only, from 25OCT15. Currently the oneWorld member operates a mix of A330-200 and A340-300 aircraft.

Note the schedule listed below is preliminary, which means additional changes may occur, such as moving forward planned A330-300 service to Summer season.

UL505 CMB0225 – 0845LHR 333 67
UL503 CMB1300 – 1920LHR 333 D

UL506 LHR1235 – 0435+1CMB 333 67
UL504 LHR2050 – 1250+1CMB 333 D

http://airlineroute.net/2014/12/12/ul-lhr-w15update1/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ul-lhr-w15update1

[ejanson65]

Does anybody know the current situation of Mattala Airport? has it started making profit? Names of the airline operating over there? any ideas how to make Mattala airport succesfull?

10 Commercial flights/week and the rest are done for political reasons.

I met a Captain in Jeddah recently. They operated CMB-HRI-JED. Nobody got off and nobody got on in HRI. Waste of fuel and one extra cycle on the aircraft.

Epic Fail!

HRI was built for all the wrong reasons and will never be more than an incredible waste of public funds imho.

Best option - close it! There is no way to make this profitable.

Since there is no TAF (forecast) published for this airport it cannot be legally be used as an alternate for CMB.

[banuthev]

10 Commercial flights/week and the rest are done for political reasons.

I met a Captain in Jeddah recently. They operated CMB-HRI-JED. Nobody got off and nobody got on in HRI. Waste of fuel and one extra cycle on the aircraft.

Epic Fail!

HRI was built for all the wrong reasons and will never be more than an incredible waste of public funds imho.

Best option - close it! There is no way to make this profitable.

Since there is no TAF (forecast) published for this airport it cannot be legally be used as an alternate for CMB.

In my opinion HRI is suitable ONLY for MRO facility and flight training schools.. There were plans to build a LH Aircraft Engineering (MRO) facilities at HRI ? not sure what's a latest update on that. They should cancel all the regular flights operating via HRI. Waste of Money!

Mihin, SriLankan to trim losses - http://www.nation.lk/edition/biz-new...im-losses.html

[Speedbird]

In my opinion HRI is suitable ONLY for MRO facility and flight training schools.. There were plans to build a LH Aircraft Engineering (MRO) facilities at HRI ? not sure what's a latest update on that. They should cancel all the regular flights operating via HRI. Waste of Money!

Mihin, SriLankan to trim losses - http://www.nation.lk/edition/biz-new...im-losses.html

Well MRO would be very difficult unless facilities in city of Hambantota develop...like good schools, living standard etc...There is a human element as well License AC Engineers are in demand...They dont want to live in a place where they cannot have a good living standard.

MJ and UL should be trimming losses; today Oil is at less than US $60 (WTI)

[ejanson65]

MJ and UL should be trimming losses; today Oil is at less than US $60 (WTI)

The published annual report for UL shows fuel costs decreased last year but losses increased

They continually talk about cost cutting but the losses have increased year after year. There is a very nice chart in the annual report that shows this.

There is a complete disconnect between what is said and what actually happens.

[4R-ADA]

10 Commercial flights/week and the rest are done for political reasons.

I met a Captain in Jeddah recently. They operated CMB-HRI-JED. Nobody got off and nobody got on in HRI. Waste of fuel and one extra cycle on the aircraft.

Epic Fail!

HRI was built for all the wrong reasons and will never be more than an incredible waste of public funds imho.

Best option - close it! There is no way to make this profitable.

Since there is no TAF (forecast) published for this airport it cannot be legally be used as an alternate for CMB.

Totally agree. I am really really surprised that these CMB/HRI tags are even in place with wide body aircraft.
The only way this airport can work is:

1) Attract seasonal charter traffic - surely the likes of Condor, Thomson, Edelweiss etc etc can be enticed? What about those airlines from Siberia? They often have winter charters to Thailand, Philippines etc.
2) Attract low cost airlines - surely Tiger Air, Air Asia could be enticed.
3) Make it the home base of Mihin - low-cost airline from a different base to differentiate it from CMB/UL. Means MJ should not be using CMB at all.

I guess if the highway between Hambantota to Colombo was complete, that would make it a lot more accessible as an alternate airport for the southern region of Sri Lanka.

[Haleef]

*Good News *

The 2nd brand new A330 - 300 will depart Toulouse in France as UL 1206 on the 19th Dec 2014 on its delivery voyage to land at BIA.

[channa]

The published annual report for UL shows fuel costs decreased last year but losses increased

They continually talk about cost cutting but the losses have increased year after year. There is a very nice chart in the annual report that shows this.

There is a complete disconnect between what is said and what actually happens.

As long as government keeps hand on it, UL and MJ won't be able to make profits. Nowadays more airlines make profit due to low fuel prices. Air Canada is a good example. They are progressing well and expanding routes rapidly with new air crafts.

[flylanka]

No It is not..... Expanding network is not starting destinations for the sake of it. Focus should be turning UL around to a profit with existing network.. may be right down-sizing for that matter. UL plays in a market with low yields hence have to be careful in network plans.

[banuthev]

No It is not..... Expanding network is not starting destinations for the sake of it. Focus should be turning UL around to a profit with existing network.. may be right down-sizing for that matter. UL plays in a market with low yields hence have to be careful in network plans.

Yes but SriLankan has to increase the frequency of nonstop flights to profitable destinations like Beijing and Shanghai.

As long as government keeps hand on it, UL and MJ won't be able to make profits. Nowadays more airlines make profit due to low fuel prices. Air Canada is a good example. They are progressing well and expanding routes rapidly with new air crafts.

Even Maldivian Airlines has signed a lease agreements to get A321 & A330 to fly nonstop flights to Beijing and to other chinese cities. UL is not exploiting the Maldives market very well even when they operate approx 5 flights a day to Male'. It's because UL's flights to China is not enough to dominate the market. UL is very slow in progressing. Due to operating flights via HRI, UL flight network looks ridiculous and it's inconvienient to passengers.

[ejanson65]

As long as government keeps hand on it, UL and MJ won't be able to make profits. Nowadays more airlines make profit due to low fuel prices. Air Canada is a good example. They are progressing well and expanding routes rapidly with new air crafts.

Making a profit isn't that simple. There are a huge number of variables that need to be managed correctly such as:-

Leasing Costs (normally in $)
Insurance
Fuel Hedging
Dollar cost Hedging (vs foreign currency exchange rates)
Training costs
+ plenty more

You are looking at tiny profit margins (if you manage your variable costs correctly) - a small increase in costs will change a tiny profit into a huge loss.

Any kind of Hedging requires serious $$ upfront.

UL is not run like a business - it's just another prestige project imho.

[channa]

Yes but SriLankan has to increase the frequency of nonstop flights to profitable destinations like Beijing and Shanghai.

Even Maldivian Airlines has signed a lease agreements to get A321 & A330 to fly nonstop flights to Beijing and to other chinese cities. UL is not exploiting the Maldives market very well even when they operate approx 5 flights a day to Male'. It's because UL's flights to China is not enough to dominate the market. UL is very slow in progressing. Due to operating flights via HRI, UL flight network looks ridiculous and it's inconvienient to passengers.

I think UL flights to Beijing and Shanghai should be operated daily. There are lots of chinese who visit Maldives can travel in UL with good connections from CMB to MLE.Even singapore arlines operate twice daily to MLE due to heavy passanger demand from Asia Pacific region. It is better to route Beijing and Shanghai flights to MLE without stopping at HRI