Category: Aviation

WASHINGTON, 2013 (AFP) – American Airlines emerged as the world’s largest airline Monday, combining with US Airways after a hard-fought battle to overcome US competition concerns.The billion merger was first announced in February, but was held up by an antitrust lawsuit from the US government and backed by several states, worried about the combined airline’s […]

Dec 06, 2013 (LBO) – Cinnamon Air, a domestic Sri Lanka based airline said it had added a sixth destination to its network with scheduled services started to Sigiriya.One way fare is listed at 199 US dollars with a 30 percent discount for travel in December. The flight from Sri Lanka’s international airport in Katunayake […]

SYDNEY, November 26, 2013 (AFP) – Australia said Tuesday it had summoned Beijing’s ambassador to voice opposition to China’s sudden announcement of an air defence identification zone over the East China Sea. China and Japan each summoned the other’s ambassador after Beijing said Saturday it had established an Air Defence Identification Zone — which would […]

Nov 22, 2013 (LBO) – State run SriLankan Airlines had lost 15.7 billion rupees (120 million US dollars) in the first half of the 2013 financial year, a finance ministry report said. In the six months to September 2013, the airlines had posted revenues of 54.4 billion rupees and burned up 70 billion rupees in […]

Oct 31, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run SriLankan Airlines is negotiating a 250 million US dollar facility for working capital, a top official said.The carrier is looking for 4-year funding, from international markets chief executive Kapila Chandrasena said. SriLankan Airlines has mapped out an ambitious re-fleeting program involving fuel-efficient Airbus A-350 XWB and new […]

Oct 29, 2013 (LBO) – Profits at Sri Lanka’s Keells Hotels Plc rose 113 percent to 250 million rupees in the September 2013 quarter form a year earlier, helped by strong results in the Maldives, interim accounts showed. In the September quarter total revenues rose 30 percent to 2.5 billion rupees, cost of sales rose […]

Oct 28, 2013 (LBO) – Travel time to African destinations from South Asia and the Far East will be cut by around three hours through a new route from Sri Lanka via Seychelles, an official said.Asia is an aviation growth region especially in the ASEAN region with privately owned budget carriers coming on expanding fast […]

Oct 23, 2013 (LBO) – State-run Mihin Lanka will operate twice weekly flights, code-sharing with sister full service carrier, SriLankan Airlines.The flight will start from next month, SriLankan Airlines said. Nishantha Wickremasinghe who is chairman of both airlines said the flights will connect not only Seychelles but the African continent as well. Chief Executive Kapila […]

Oct 17, 2013 (LBO) – Duty free shopping facilities at Sri Lanka’s Mattala airport may open within two weeks, a top official said.Dufry said in August that it signed a master concessionaire agreement to run all airside duty free space in Mattala.It expected to have 1,000 square feet of space divided between arrival and departure […]

SYDNEY, October 14, 2013 (AFP) – The head of European aerospace giant EADS Monday said its aircraft unit Airbus is on track to deliver the first A350 XWB by the end of next year. The wide-bodied aircraft is the latest passenger jet from Airbus as the Toulouse-based manufacturer ramps up production in a bid to […]

Oct 09, 2013 (LBO) – State-run SriLankan Airlines said it had leased three Airbus A350-900 aircraft from US-based International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC), as part of a re-fleeting program where another four will be bought directly from the manufacturer. “…[W]e believe that this new generation, fuel-efficient aircraft will play a leading role in the airline’s […]