News
SriLankan A350s bound for Sichuan Airlines
June 23rd 2017
The SriLankan Airlines A350 saga continues. After the airline managed to terminate contracts with AerCap for four A350-900s due last year and costing US$170 million, four XWBs remain listed in Airbus’ order book. Read More »
The four AerCap A350s will enter service with Chengdu-based Sichuan Airlines from the fourth quarter of this year. The Chinese carrier plans to fly the XWB primarily on its long-haul routes to North America.
The four A350s on direct order from Airbus will likely be converted into orders for smaller single aisle aircraft in line with SriLankan’s change of strategy from long-haul to mostly regional operations.
"Airbus is willing to change the terms of the contract to a different set of aircraft,” SriLankan CEO, Suren Ratwatte, told Reuters. "We are in consultation with shareholders about how we best deal with this."
SriLankan Airlines is an all-Airbus operator. It has run into severe financial trouble over the past decade as airlines from the Gulf, India and low-cost carriers cut into its revenue. The airline has terminated all destinations in Europe except London. It will launch a daily Colombo-Melbourne service in October to connect to its Heathrow rotation. Flights to Sydney are under consideration.
