Sri Lankan government’s project to create a rail transfer service from Colombo city to the Colombo Bandaranaike Airport, has turned into a loss making venture. Keeping aside the usual suspecting of corruption involved in South Asian dealings, this is a suggestion to make the system work in Sri Lanka.

- If possible, import two to three new economical Diesel Multiple Units (DMU) for use on the service (economical being the highlight since the older Hitachi model presently used for this service can hardly be considered economical). The new DMU should be configured in a semi-luxury configuration. A luxury service would mean that higher fares need be demanded, which would make the project commercially non-viable. A higher density service would not be preffered by the tourists as the new service would probably be their first touchpoint with the country of Sri Lanka. As Sri Lanka does not have any electrified rail tracks, having an economical DMU would be essential to ensure that this train service is made profitable. A good choice would be a DMU similar to the HB-E300 Hybrid custom built to fit the track gauge size used in Sri Lanka – or may be even a choice similar to the Australian Transwa or Bombardier built Turbostars (Class 172 in UK), although Sri Lanka Railways might as well be able to find a suitable alternative from a Chinese or Indian provider too.
-Create booking partnerships with airlines operating into Sri Lanka. The service should be made available for integration on airlines’ websites through a dedicated Booking Engine backbone. A small commission should be made avaialble to the airlines which send bookings for the train service. This would prove to be an attractive source of ancillary income for the airlines and the possibility is that possibly almost all of the foreign airlines operating into Sri Lanka may participate. Once the service develops into a commercially successful venture, the train operator may start charging the airlines a monthly or annual fee to participate in the service.
But until then, it would be a task that should be well managed with a mix of efficient resource utilization bringing lower costs, lower fares and good marketing. While it might not be a project to consider very easy, it is something doable and almost certainly will guarantee success.

The great photo of a Transperth B-Series train used as the featured image on homepage, is owned by DBZ2313

Originally posted on Airline Industry Review

Making local aviation history, an Airbus A380-800 touched down in Sri Lanka today for the first time. The unexpected first arrival was A6-EDN, an Emirates A380, enroute from Sydney and Auckland. Apparently the A380 needed to refuel and selected Colombo instead of its previously planned Singapore stop – due to shorter total flying time on the way from Sydney to Dubai via Colombo.

Flight details

EK414 AKL-SYD-CMB-DXB

Scheduled departure out of Auckland: 1840 Actual: 1848

Scheduled arrival into Sydney: 2005 Actual: 2022

Scheduled departure out of Sydney: 2145 Actual: 2320

Planned departure out of Singapore: 0545 for a 0900 arrival into Dubai – CANCELLED

Scheduled arrival into Colombo: 0235 Actual: 0433

Scheduled departure out of Colombo: 0540 Actual: 0526

Scheduled arrival into Dubai: 0825 Actual: 0819

The A380 had been delayed due to a bad weather situation at Sydney, which disrupted refueling and had to leave with an insufficient fuel load for reaching Dubai, in order to escape the Sydney airport closure. With this, a stop at Colombo had been pre-planned to refuel. The photos below are taken by an spotter on the field at the time, and are copyrighted to the photographer. The A380 was handled at Colombo by SriLankan Airlines Ground Handling.

Originally posted on Airline Industry Review

As posted on The Networker, SriLankan Airlines from 24th December is adding its fourth weekly frequency to Tokyo Narita. The new flight operates out of Colombo on Saturdays and out of Narita on Sundays, on board Airbus A340-300 aircraft. The flight will operate as UL454/5, the nonstop Colombo – Tokyo terminator. The carrier was awarded the rights for the fourth weekly flight early this year.

Schedule:

UL460 CMB 2340 – 1150 NRT 343 37
UL454 CMB 2340 – 1150 NRT 332 5
UL454 CMB 2340 – 1150 NRT 343 6 NEW

UL461 NRT 1310 – 1925 MLE 2025 – 2220 CMB 343 14
UL455 NRT 1320 – 1945 CMB 332 6
UL455 NRT 1320 – 1945 CMB 343 7 NEW

Originally posted on Airline Industry Review

SriLankan Airlines has formally announced that it will be refurbishing its widebody fleet with new flat bed seats in Business Class.
The airline has selected Avio Interiors’ Biz seat offering as its seat of choice. The seat offers a general pitch of 78″ and also presents a ‘buddy seat’ in front of each seat.

The airline will also be switching to the RAVE IFE system by IMS, on these aircraft. RAVE is an embeddable IFE and is a self-contained system thus not requiring heavy servers. The system is built using only two major LRUs compared to the ten or more by traditional IFE. The self-contained nature of the product means that it will not depend on a server – unlike traditional IFEs – and deliver a full AVOD experience to the passenger. RAVE is yet another contender of the Next Generation IFEs and is fighting for a share with others like Lumexis.

The installation of flat bed seats will be done by SriLankan MRO at Colombo and will commence in May 2011 and complete in September. Two of the A340-300s ( out of five ) and four A330-200s are set to be refurbished. The fifth and latest A330 in SriLankan’s fleet already has lie-flat seating. An exact refurbishment schedule for the IFE was not revealed, however will likely coincide with the seating refurbishment.

The airline has also announced that it is mulling an expansion into North America, likely to Canada. The airline plans to either fly via London Gatwick or to only codeshare in the beginning. Sri Lanka currently does not have an air services agreement with Canada, although it already has an Open Skies pact with USA.
SriLankan CEO, Manoj Gunewardena, had stated that discussions with Canadian Federal Transport Authority had already begun and that the airline was also talking to Air Canada and American Airlines for a possible codeshare.
To the September of this year, passenger arrivals from North America to Sri Lanka had jumped 67.6% year over year.
SriLankan currently serves London Heathrow 12 times each week with a 13th weekly flight to be added from December.

In this author’s opinion – if they must, SriLankan should instead try to launch a flight to Canada via Zurich with fifth freedom rights. A flight between Canada and Sri Lanka will likely only involve low yielding VFR traffic in the beginning, although there is a potential for development of traffic. Zurich had been quite a successful destination to UL before it was axed following the Boxing Day Tsunami due to lack of tourist traffic. However, the recent surge of tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka and the fact that both Zurich and Canada have a large Sri Lankan diaspora living in could make such a route quite successful.

Originally posted on Airline Industry Review

Mihin Lanka ( IATA : MJ ) will be adding an Airbus A321 aircraft and launching four new routes from 1NOV2010.

The new aircraft added is an Airbus A321-200. The aircraft, MSN3106, is an ex- easyJet ( G-TTIF ) bird and has been built in 2007. It ended its career with easyJet in late September and is currently undergoing painting prior to delivery to Mihin. It will be the newest A320 family aircraft operating in Sri Lanka till SriLankan’s next A320 aircraft arrives. The registration is expected to be 4R-MRC.

Photo of G-TTIF

New routes
Some flight timings have not yet been published

Ahmedabad
MJ333 AMD1820 – 2100CMB 13 320
MJ334 AMD2200 – 0030+1CMB 13 320

Dhaka
MJ501/2 CMB-DAC-CMB
Details not yet available
Total frequencies three per week

Jakarta
MJ603 CMB0700 – 1430CGK 136 321
MJ604 CGK1530 – 1720CMB 136 321
Note: Flight timings currently suggest 6hrs for CMB-CGK, implying a probable intermediate stop.

However, the inbound leg displays a time duration of 3h20min, which is too little for a CGK-CMB sector.

Malé
MJ101/2 CMB-MLE-CMB Day 6,7 A321
Total frequencies four per week ( MLE is a resumption )

The above information is preliminary and is not yet available for booking. The airline may decide to cancel or change the flights at any moment.

This post will be updated when more data on this topic is available.

Originally posted on Airline Industry Review

SriLankan Airlines had minimized losses to the year ending 31st March 2010 and unveiled ambitious expansion plans, at the carrier’s 31st Anniversary held at Colombo Bandaranaike airport yesterday.
The carrier’s losses to the period ending 31st March were LKR 6.06b ( USD53.7 million ), compared to LKR 9.99b an year ago.
Revenue had fallen to LKR63.36 billions ( USD562 million ) from LKR74.26 billion an year ago, mainly due to slashing of the network.
Fuel costs were down by 35%, maintenance by 19%, landing costs by 13%, overflying charges by 16%, airport handling costs by 7% and catering costs by 3%.
Operating expenses fell to LKR69.2 billion ( USD614 million ) from LKR84.4 billion an year ago and unit cost had come down to LKR43.37 ( USD 38 cents ) tonne/km from LKR50.71 on the year ago.
Load factor ( pax ) had surged 5.08% to 77.93% from 72.85% an year earlier. Overall load factor, including cargo, had risen to 66.72% from 65.12% an year ago.

In an ambitious expansion plan, the carrier is to take delivery of seven aircraft next year, and relaunch its domestic floatplane services.

SriLankan has started adding Visit Sri Lanka decals to its fleet, seen here on 4R-ALG, newest addition to fleet.

The seven aircraft will consist of five Airbus A320s and two Twin Otters. Three of the A320s will be brand new, and will be the first brand new aircraft SriLankan takes delivery of in 10 years. These A320s will also be fitted with AVOD IFE systems.
The floatplane service will likely launch during this year.
The carrier will also refurbish its Airbus A330 and A340 aircraft with flat bed seats. Of the five A330 aircraft SriLankan operates, one aircraft has flat bed seats.
The airline had previously also announced plans to launch flights to Moscow, Russia and Guangzhou, China before February 2011.
SriLankan was bought back by the government of Sri Lanka during July this year. The airline also remarked that its engineering unit, SriLankan MRO, is likely to secure its largest ever contract, from a regional airline soon. SriLankan currently services fleets of a number of regional carriers, including India based LCCs IndiGo and GoAir.
SriLankan Catering, a profitable subsidiary of SriLankan, recently took over a hotel at airport premises owned by the airport authority. The airline is also in the process of setting up a full flight simulator at Colombo Bandaranaike ( CMB ) Airport.
SriLankan as an airline is currently unprofitable, while at group level all of its subsidiaries ( MRO, Catering ) are profitable. The government has been mulling on diversifying the carrier, which has been constantly unprofitable ever since Emirates Airline ended the management contract. SriLankan’s Chairman is the brother-in-law of the President, who is also the Chairman of the other state owned airline, Mihin Lanka. Mihin’s financial data were not published.

REVIEW

SriLankan seems to be making some progress, while the current positive global market outlook might have helped them.
It appears that SriLankan is planning to embark a regional expansion activity with addition of five A320s. It is likely that the brand new aircraft are coming from lessors, as the carrier currently has no outstanding orders with Airbus.
The decision to fit these aircraft with AVOD might be appreciated by passengers, as SriLankan’s current fleet of three A320s do not have any personal IFE system. However, it needs to be questioned whether an AVOD system is a necessity as SriLankan’s key catchment areas of South Asia and its markets are increasingly being threatened by LCCs. It is not clear whether any of these A320s will replace the existing A320s, of which one’s leasing contract is due to expire in 2011.
Although it is a very important, and a necessary, move to refurbish the carrier’s A330 aircraft, the rationale behind upgrading A340 aircraft is not clear. The five A340-300s, of which three are the first delivered to Asia, are already too old for economical operation by an overstaffed carrier like SriLankan. The fact that these are leased aircraft makes the matter much worse for them. The replacement choices of A340s makes an interesting case for SriLankan. On this regard, the all-Airbus-carrier currently has two choices
i. Make a move to Boeing, train employees, and lease some Boeing 777-200ERs which might be available at attractive rates.
ii. Lease a few Airbus A330-300 aircraft for medium haul operations, and utilize the existing Airbus A330-200 aircraft on long haul sectors, even at a sacrifice of capacity.
The reviving of floatplane services can be expected to be profitable with tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka rapidly improving after end of the war. It is believed that the floatplane operation was highly successful, before it was ceased over security concerns.
SriLankan’s MRO unit has made steady progress in the last few years, and expanding the MRO operation could prove to be a success for SriLankan.
SriLankan added one new destination, Milan, in the last financial year. During this financial year, SriLankan has so far launched flights into Shanghai, which is reportedly experiencing very good loads. The decisions to add Moscow and Guangzhou to the network turns out only natural with Sri Lanka’s trade with Russia and China improving. It must be noted that SriLankan has made commendable progress regarding network development during this year.
Rather than diversifying SriLankan’s units, perhaps the best thing the government can do, is to merge the state owned LCC, Mihin Lanka, with SriLankan. Which could become not only very helpful yields-wise but also an important strategical move for SriLankan’s future.
With so many things happening, SriLankan’s future sure would be an interesting one to watch.

Originally posted on Airline Industry Review

China Eastern Airlines will be launching service to Colombo, Sri Lanka and Malé, Maldives from today.
The event turned out quite suprisingly given the very short notice at which the flight was announced.
This is the first scheduled service to Sri Lanka by any Chinese carrier, and is the first link between Kunming and Sri Lanka.
The flight was launched at a ceremony attended by high profile delegates from both countries, including Sri Lanka’s ambassador to China Mr. Karunathilaka Amunugama.
The flight operates thrice weekly on a Kunming – Colombo – Malé routing. The launch flight will reportedly operate with an Airbus A330, however an aircraft switch to either the Boeing 737 or 767 is expected.

MU713 KMG1740-2010CMB2110-2150MLE 247 EQV
MU714 MLE2240-0010+1CMB0110+1-0830+1KMG 247 EQV

Thanks to Jimmy at AirlineRoute.net for spotting this.

Originally posted on Airline Industry Review

Gulf Air from onset of Northern Winter will launch service to Aden, Yemen and Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Service to Aden ( ADE ) from Bahrain ( BAH ) will operate four times a week with an Airbus A319 and will be a new destination for the carrier.
Service to Colombo ( CMB ) will operate five times weekly with an Airbus A320 and will be a resumption of service. GF ceased service to CMB back in 2005 after a continuous service for 29 years starting in 1976.

Aden eff 22SEP
BAH-ADE GF193 1145-1555 1 Stop Day 3467 319
ADE-BAH GF193 1645-1915 Nonstop Day 3467 319

Colombo eff 5OCT
BAH-CMB
GF62 1250-2025 Day 27 320
GF66 2040-0415+1 Day 345 320
CMB-BAH
GF67 0510-0735 Day 456 320
GF63 2110-2345 Day 27 320

Originally posted on Airline Industry Review

Kingfisher Airlines starting 1NOV will launch three new routes, and resume one route, to Colombo.

The new routes are

Bangalore – Colombo route will be resumed.

All the routes operate daily.
Currently Kingfisher’s only flight to Colombo, daily Chennai – Colombo flight operates with an A320. This flight is scheduled to operate with a revised timing from 31OCT10, arriving at Colombo at 0750 and departing Colombo at 2100, with the type still displayed as an A320.
However it appears that this is incorrect, and that the flight will in fact operate with the same ATR72 which will operate the three new routes. This is further evident from the fact that the Chennai – Colombo flight’s flight timing changes from 01h20min to 01h50min.
It appears that any ATR72 starting the day as IT061 MAA-CMB will be utilized all day to Colombo, starting from MAA at 0600 and ending the day at 2250.

Detailed route analysis

Cochin – Colombo
IT080 COK 1845 – 2015 CMB D ATR72
IT079 CMB 1630 – 1800 COK D
ATR72

Competition : None. SriLankan previously operated on this route up to 12 times weekly, however this route was later cancelled along with the network restructuring.

Tiruchirapalli – Colombo
IT076 TRZ 1030 – 1145 CMB D ATR72
IT075 CMB 0835 – 0950 TRZ D ATR72

Competition : SriLankan Airlines – 10 times weekly A320. Mihin Lanka – 5 times weekly A320.

Thiruvananthapuram – Colombo
IT078 TRV 1430 – 1545 CMB D ATR72
IT077 CMB 1230 – 1345 TRV D ATR72

Competition : SriLankan Airlines – 10 times weekly A320.

Bangalore – Colombo
IT063 BLR 0010 – 0130 CMB D 321
IT064 CMB 0230 – 0350 BLR D 321

Competition : SriLankan Airlines – 6 times weekly A320/A330-200.

Revised Chennai – Colombo flight
IT061 MAA 0600 – 0750 CMB D
IT062 CMB 2100 – 2250 MAA D
Competition : SriLankan Airlines – 15 weekly A320/A330-200/A340-300, Air India Express daily 738, Indian Airlines daily A320, Jet Airways daily 73H, JetLite daily 737.

All flights effective 01NOV10.

Originally posted on Airline Industry Review

flydubai will launch flights to Colombo from 23rd June. Flights will operate four times weekly, aboard Boeing 737-800s.
Fares start at around AED420 ( LKR 13,000, USD125 ).

FZ555 DXB2110-0110+1CMB 1356
FZ556 CMB0210-0510DXB 2467

Currently, the competition on the route is as follows.
Emirates – 21-24 weekly. All Boeing 777-300ER and once weekly 777-200LR.
Mihin Lanka – 6 weekly. All Airbus A320.
SriLankan – 7 weekly. All Airbus A330-200.
Colombo will be FZ’s 21st destination.

Originally posted on Airline Industry Review