News
SriLankan terminates Paris and Frankfurt after all
July 1st 2016
Colombo-based SriLankan Airlines will end operations to both Frankfurt and Paris after all. Following a meeting last week with the carrier's owner, the Sri Lankan government, the decision was taken to axe the routes in order to stop SriLankan’s haemorrhaging. Read More »
As such, the oneworld member will cease its four-weekly A330 flights to Frankfurt from October 30, and its four-weekly operations to Paris’ CDG from November 6. A daily A330 rotation to London’s Heathrow will remain the flag carrier’s sole link to Europe.
"Addition of capacity to the Colombo Int'l market, particularly by Middle Eastern carriers, accompanied by a drop in airfares in European markets, has seen the contribution of the European network's drop in comparison to other routes. This has been further exacerbated by the depreciation of the Euro against the Dollar," the airline said in a statement on Monday.
A report in the Sri Lankan Business Times last week suggested SriLankan planned to lease three of its four on-order A350-900s to Turkish Airlines. The article, which cited government officials, said the deal was close to completion. The fourth A350 has been sold to an undisclosed aircraft lessor. The airline had earlier said it does not require new long-haul aircraft at the moment, following a strategy change that sees SriLankan put greater emphasis on the Indian and Chinese markets.
The airline has 21 aircraft and flies to 30 destinations. Orient Aviation learnt the carrier’s premium loads have “dropped rapidly” over the past six months, signalling a return to black ink this year may be hopeful at best.
