Sri Lanka Aviation

[banuthev]

AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes said the below statement in year 2009 when he was launching AirAsia flights between Kuala Lumpur and Colombo.

CEO Tony Fernandes : - “I am impressed by the warmth and the hospitality of the people in Sri Lanka,” the Malaysian entrepreneur said at the celebration of successful AirAsia flights from Colombo to Kuala Lampur, at the Cinnamon Grand yesterday, “But you must be realistic and practical at a time like this.” He said that although he intends to set up his own domestic AirAsia flight within Sri Lanka, the costs faced by carriers in Sri Lanka was still too high. “We are a low cost carrier, carrying budget travellers. They do not need marble floors and aerobridges, just a basic terminal that we can land our planes in, and where the turn around will not take more than 25 minutes,” he informed. “Until these basic facilities are given to us low cost carriers, flying into Sri Lanka is still seen as expensive.”

Any possibilities Sri Lanka's new government may attract AirAsia to make a LCC hub in Colombo or in Mattala ? Will the new government allow British Airways to operate between London Heathrow and Colombo

Few more news-updates :

Btw effective 1-Apr-15, Qatar Airways boosts Colombo service by introducing second daily Boeing B777-300ER and one daily Airbus A321.

SriLankan Airlines to start three weekly A330-300 service to Rome from 02 June 2015.

[channa]

Any possibilities Sri Lanka's new government may attract AirAsia to make a LCC hub in Colombo or in Mattala ? Will the new government allow British Airways to operate between London Heathrow and Colombo

Government should also try to attract more European carriers like Air France,KLM,Lufthansa to Colombo.

Middle eastern carrier like Emirates should consider have a stop over at CMB on their destinations to Australia

[Speedbird]

...
Middle eastern carrier like Emirates should consider have a stop over at CMB on their destinations to Australia

EK operate hub and spoke operation...they are not interested in an additional stop on the route.

QR was interested, few years back...only reason was to utilize SL/AUS bilateral...since GOSL was giving the run around (protecting the national carrier)...now QATAR has its own bilateral with AUS

[Haleef]

SriLankan Airlines Airbus A340-300 - 4R-ADC going out of the fleet within this month.. She did her last C-Check at the B-747 Hangar in CMB and got her paint removed :/

Pic:https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.n...27d77bbade6505

[flylanka]

SriLankan Airlines Airbus A340-300 - 4R-ADC going out of the fleet within this month.. She did her last C-Check at the B-747 Hangar in CMB and got her paint removed :/

Pic:https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.n...27d77bbade6505

What was her last revenue flight?

About time these are retired for better fuel efficient aircrafts.. Plus the interiors I believe belong to another era?

[banuthev]

What was her last revenue flight?

About time these are retired for better fuel efficient aircrafts.. Plus the interiors I believe belong to another era?

4R-ADC flew its last revenue flight on CMB-JED-CMB as UL281/2 on th 18/1/15.

Interiors of 4R-ADA/B/C must have been last refurbished in 1999 when these birds were reconfigured for changing brand from Air Lanka to SriLankan. If i am not mistaken these -311s used to have first class and total seats of 295 (f/c/y) after it took 317 seats (c/y).

[Cayman]

Not sure what is going on now with Aviation in Sri Lanka, as the aviation minister has quit due to interference.

With president's brother being installed as the chairman of Telecom, it is the same 'family tree' concept, just a different family name

At least the previous family tree carried out some tangible development.

[NeatStuff]

the aviation minister has quit due to interference.

Where did you get this info?

[SLAA]

Here are the the lists of msn numbers of the A333s which are going to be delivered to SriLankan by end of 2015. I am quite surprised, SriLankan Airlines told in the media that they are going to be get 6 x A330-300 but in the Airbus A330 Production list there are 7 A333s are allocated for SriLankan Airlines. Can you confirm how many A330-300 SriLankan actually going to add to the fleet?

According A330-300 Production list, following msn numbers have been allocated for SriLankan Airlines.

msn 1564 - oct14 - 4R-ALL delivered - lessor ALC
msn 1583 - dec14 - 4R-ALM delivered - lessor HKAC
msn 1604 - apr15 - 4R-ALN at the flight line in TLS - 4R-ALN is visible in the left side in the picture.
msn 1650 - jul15 -
msn 1669 - ?
msn 1687 - ?
msn 1689 - ?

Media source : http://www.airbus.com/presscentre/pr...-300-on-order/ (says SriLankan ordered 6 x A330-300s)
Airbus A330 Production List - Recent : https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...=0&output=html (says 7 x A330-300 have been allocated for SriLankan)

The potential answer to what the 7th "hidden" A330 is for is in this article:

http://www.ft.lk/2015/02/02/dont-use-his-excellency-when-reference-is-made-to-me-president-sirisena/

Quote:
"President also emphasised that an order placed by the previous Government for a new aircraft to be used by the President has been revoked and instead the money would be utilised to buy spare parts for the aircraft of SriLankan Airlines and Mihin Lanka which would be merged.
He further said that the aircraft, at an estimated cost of $ 16 million, was to be paid for from Treasury funds and the decision to halt the purchase was taken in consultation with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe."

[Cayman]

The potential answer to what the 7th "hidden" A330 is for is in this article:

You cannot buy an A333 for USD16M, unless they are talking about the initial deposit paid.

Initial deposits on aircraft are typically between 5-10% and this falls within the list price of USD 245.6M for the A330-300, taking in to account the typical discounts.

As usual, it appears the journalists reported the initial deposit as the "price".

Fact that the deposit is used for spares from Airbus gives credence to your theory.

[Cayman]

Where did you get this info?

Among other the following:

http://www.lankatruth.com/home/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8333:-faizer-mustapha-flies-to-singapore-again&catid=42:smartphones&Itemid=74

[xyzpoosa]

Five A330-300 are purchase and lease back by HKAC

http://www.hkac.com/hkac-delivers-fi...nkan-airlines/

[SLAA]

You cannot buy an A333 for USD16M, unless they are talking about the initial deposit paid.

Initial deposits on aircraft are typically between 5-10% and this falls within the list price of USD 245.6M for the A330-300, taking in to account the typical discounts.

As usual, it appears the journalists reported the initial deposit as the "price".

Fact that the deposit is used for spares from Airbus gives credence to your theory.

Well said Cayman, that's what I thought too. Or I thought that it might have been a section of a lease offer, because I doubt UL has the money to buy these planes outright, a fact discussed in the post above this one

[janhongladarom]

Where is 4R-ADB. I don't see it flying for sometime. Is it being retired along with 4R-ADC? When are they planning to retire the first 3 A340's as they have the old business class. I still see 4R-ADA flying.

[lordvader]

Well said Cayman, that's what I thought too. Or I thought that it might have been a section of a lease offer, because I doubt UL has the money to buy these planes outright, a fact discussed in the post above this one

The $15-16mn is in relation to the VIP kit that MR ordered. Apparently this was given free to UL as part of the aircraft deal.

See:

http://www.economynext.com/Sri_Lankan_Airlines_to_return_Airbus_VIP_kit-3-916-6.html