Government Asks Money-Losing SriLankan Airlines To Launch New Routes To Europe

Here we go again.

Drop the $50 international embarkation tax and $60 UL overseas sales surcharge and I might consider a stopover on a future trip.

Sri Lanka is a nice place, universally acclaimed as such (unlike India).
But the airline is definitely not one run with international standards (grumpy flight attendants. Maybe American standards?) so not a great 'face' for Sri Lankan hospitality which is so warm

Actually I imagine that SriLankan do quite well on the London route. I have flown it over six times in the past ten years (in economy and in early December) and every time the flight has been full. Other family members that take it have also said the flight is always full. And it is not like SriLankan has cheap tickets on the LHR route either...

Why do you think they don't make money on the London route? Given the history it seems like the most logical route to make money

@James My experience was just the opposite. Very friendly very professional. I don't know whether I was just lucky,or you were unlucky.

I guess I can understand the rationale of the government. Smaller European destinations such as Zurich (Edelweiss) and Warsaw (LOT) at least have seasonal direct flights to Colombo - and they seem to be profitable. Therefore it is quite remarkable that the two largest countries in Europe (apart from the UK) have none, not even a seasonal one.

They are currently served by a codeshare operated by Qatar, which is not bad in terms of connections, but still includes a transfer at Doha.

Bottom line I think Paris is worth to try, perhaps first on a seasonal basis. Frankfurt is more difficult, because it‘s just a LH/Star Alliance hub and neither the largest city (which would be Berlin), nor the market with highest purchasing power (Munich) in Germany.

Ben, LHR-CMB is usually full. The company were already thinking about resuming services to eurpoe and adding new routes such as Sydney,Nairobi,Kathmandu and Ho Chi Minh. They are also considering A330-900 Neo's to replace the ageing A330-200s. Sri Lankan Airlines has already cut a significant amount of loss in the past year by moving offices and administration from Colombo to Katunayake (where the airport is located), aswell as fuel saving from A320 Neo aircraft, renegotiations regarding tax and with banks and the engineering contract. Please consider all of the information available free on the internet when wrting such articles.

I flew one-way many times from CGK-BAH on business class for around $450... that’s around 9hrs of total flight. Cheap AF!

Sri Lankan did operate into Sydney many years ago as Air Lanka they are one of the old school carriers
Was told they will restart the service
Mid year
I flew Sri Lankan MEL/CMB return enjoyed the flight
Good Luck Sri Lankan will see you in Sydney soon

I totally agree with you on this post especially the part about "The Challenge with National Airlines". I also notice the similarity between all the money losing national airlines and that is that they all come from countries with developing economies. Thus, governments of these countries, in a rush to expand their economy, typically use airlines as pawns by telling them to launch flights to famous cities like London and New York. The airlines will almost certainly never make a profit on these routes. These governments need to stop managing the airlines because it only leads to corruption and mismanagement. If these governments want to stop having to constantly bail out their money losing national airlines, my advice to them is to LEAVE THEIR NATIONAL AIRLINES ALONE AND HIRE INDUSTRY EXPERTS AND VETERANS.

The guys are right, as a regular user, LHR-CMB is always full, both in Y and C. The direct fare is usually around 50% higher than taking a connecting flight. If UL can't make money on this route, then they might as well close down altogether.