Miyuru Sandaruwan: March 2011 Archives

 As per a trusted source, Lufthansa will be deploying Airbus A380 aircraft on its flights to Miami, from Frankfurt, effective 10 June.

 In response to the rising fuel prices and drop of demand due to natural disasters, the Qantas group has decided to reallocate some of its capacity and retire some of its aircraft earlier than planned.

 While China and Sri Lanka, as nations, have had a long ranging relationship in many fronts from religion to trade - it is only in 2005, when air links between the two countries began. And it has grown exponentially since then, with a lot of potential for growth.

Airline	Route	Frequency*	Equipment	Weekly Oneway Seats	Remarks
China Eastern	Kunming - Colombo	3 weekly	B.737	402
Hainan Airlines	Beijing - Colombo	4 weekly	A330	988	To begin 1 Aug 2011. Via BKK.
SriLankan	Colombo - Beijing	3 weekly	A330	861	Via BKK.
SriLankan	Colombo - Guangzhou	3 weekly	EQV	915	Via BKK.
SriLankan	Colombo - Shanghai	4 weekly	A330	1148	Via BKK.

 Air New Zealand is popular for their quirky marketing tactics, specially online, from Bare Essentials to Rico. And the kiwi team is in with something new, this time by hiring popular fitness coach Richard Simmons to be your instructor on the safety video! Have a look for yourself !

      Aerosvit Ukrainian Airlines will be launching flights to Colombo, effective 22 Oct 2011, becoming the second carrier to operate the route in less than an year.

 Emirates Airline has received approval from Austria to operate its second daily flight into Vienna, which was previously blocked by the Austrian regulatory authorities.

 China Eastern Airlines yesterday filed with the US Department of Transportation to end its 13yr old codesharing accord with American Airlines. The two has been codesharing on each other's flights between the USA and China since 1998.

 Gulf Air, effective 15th June 2011, will be launching service to Kabul, Afghanistan. Services will operate four times a week on board Airbus A320 aircraft. The schedule is below

 Etihad Airways effective 1st November will be launching flights to Malé International Airport, Maldives. The flights will operate daily on board Airbus A32O aircraft. Schedule below

 Due to the impending situation in Japan, most airlines have made changes to their flights into Japan. The following is an overview of presently planned flight operations into Japan by some of the leading carriers operating into Japan. Data is for the period 22 - 28 March. Last updated at 1415 UTC.

 After a long hiatus of decades, Air India will finally be resuming service to Sri Lanka from Summer. The carrier will fly to Colombo from Chennai six times a week starting 27th March.

      Kuwait based Wataniya Airways ceased its operations on 16th March, owing to financial issues. The premium carrier operated a fleet of 7 Airbus A320 aircraft, configured to seat 122 each, to a network of destinations that had shrunk to seven destinations prior to closure.

..given the current financial situation of the company and the lack of fair trade requirements in the local market, as well as the difficult political and security situation in the region, the Board has decided to cease all Wataniya Airways operations with the return of its last scheduled flight to Kuwait tonight, March 16th 2011.

stated the airline's board in an statement on the airline's website.

 Delta Air Lines, with effect from 22nd March is suspending service to Tokyo Haneda. The carrier has taken the decision owing to the poor demand expected in the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. The route had already been suffering from low yield owing to its unattractive timings.

      SriLankan Airlines, from 23 December 2011, will be launching service to Moscow Domodedovo from Colombo. The service will operate three times weekly ( on Wed, Fri and Sun ) on-board Airbus A330-200 aircraft via Abu Dhabi. The route is already available on reservation systems ( with sales due to open soon). It is one of the routes that UL has ever uploaded to reservation systems with such a long time in advance for the launch, which goes on to show the importance of the carrier's first ever route launch into Russia.

 Along with the announcement for launch of flights to Oslo today, Qatar Airways has also revealed that it will be launching flights to Sofia, Bulgaria and Kolkata, India. In addition, flights to Budapest will switch to nonstop effective September 14th.

 Qatar Airways has just updated on GDS systems that they will be launching flights to Oslo, Norway from 5th October, 2011 onwards. The service will operate five times a week on board two class A330-200 aircraft.

 Emirates Airline has added its third daily flight to Manchester, making the UK airport its third European airport to receive a third daily flight after London Heathrow and Gatwick, also in the UK. The announcement comes following the already announced second daily Manchester flights by Gulf rivals Qatar ( from 1st June) and Etihad ( from 1st May) . The Emirates' third daily flight will begin on 1st May and will be operated on board Airbus A330-200 aircraft.

 At present, the only US airports that are allowed to conduct flights to Cuba are Miami, New York JFK and Los Angeles, and a fourth just got added.

 Qatar Airways, effective 1st June 2011, will terminate its flights to London Gatwick. The airline presently operates daily to the airport. The excess capacity will be utilized to increase flights to Manchester to twice daily.