Category: Aviation

Aug 12, 2013 (LBO) – State-run SriLankan Airlines is on track to fly direct to China next year as traffic to Colombo picks up, a top official said.SriLankan is now flying to China via Bangkok, with tourists to Maldives being a key contributor to filling seats.But direct traffic to Sri Lanka has been picking up. […]

BRASÍLIA, August 9, 2013 (AFP) – An auction to privatize airports in Rio and Belo Horizonte, two host cities for the 2014 World Cup, will be held on October 31, Brazilian authorities said Friday. Presidential chief of staff Gleisi Hoffmann announced the date for the auction to sell concessions to run Rio’s Galeao airport and […]

Aug 08, 2013 (LBO) – State-run carrier SriLankan airlines group is planning to break even in the year to March 2017, after running about 335 million US dollars of losses in the intervening years, an official said. Sri Lankan is buying 13 new aircraft from Airbus which will be more fuel efficient saving costs and […]

Aug 07, 2013 (LBO) – State-run SriLankan Airlines will start operating a joint venture aircraft repair and maintenance organization (MRO) with Lufthansa Technik by July 2014, an official said.SriLankan chief executive Kapila Chandrasena said the MRO is expected to earn revenues of 100 million US dollars a year, with an investment of 14 million US […]

JAKARTA, August 7, 2013 (AFP) – An Indonesian passenger jet crashed into a cow and skidded off the runway as it came into land at an airport in the centre of the archipelago, officials said Wednesday.One small jet managed to take off Wednesday, but the Lion Air plane was still at the edge of the […]

July 25, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run budget carrier Mihin Lanka had doubled rewards to director in “sitting fees” to 11.2 million while making losing around a billion rupees a year since 2008, a parliamentary report said. A report by the parliament’s bipartisan Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) said Mihin Lanka had lost 1,300 […]

July 24, 2013 (LBO) – SriLankan Airlines was expected to run losses for another three to four years before breaking even, a report by a parliamentary committee which has oversight over state enterprises has said.SriLankan had lost 17.1 billion rupees in 2011. According to available data the airlines had lost at least 58 billion rupees […]

July 17, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run SriLankan airlines has been given an award for special services to tourism in the Indian Ocean at a regional hospitality event of a global tourism award scheme. The World Travel Awards held its Indian Ocean ceremony in Maldives earlier this week where SriLankan received the new award. […]

July 15, 2013 (LBO) – State-run SriLankan Airlines will get a 25 billion rupee tax-payer bailout, through a Treasury bond to settle fuel bills, a media report said.Sri Lanka’s The Sunday Times newspaper quoted civil aviation minister Priyankara Jayaratne as saying that the Treasury has agreed to pay 25 billion rupees owed to state-run fuel […]

July 5, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run Mihin Lanka, a loss-making budget carrier has been given 616 million rupees in Treasury guarantee to borrow from a state bank, finance ministry data shows. Separately the Treasury had guaranteed a 175 million US dollar-equivalent loan (22.54 billion rupees) from Mashreq Bank in UAE until June 2016. […]

July 01, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka and Seychelles have bilateral pacts on defence co-operation and air services following a visit to the island by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, his office in Colombo said.Sri Lanka’s state-run Bank of Ceylon will open a branch in the Seychelles and the air services deal paves the way for the […]

June 30, 2013 (LBO) – AirAsia, a Malaysia based budget carrier, is planning to resume flights to Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo through its long-haul unit, a media report said.AirAsia is planning a joint venture with India’s TATA group.Earlier this month it ended a joint venture in Japan over differences with its partners taking back the […]