SriLankan Airlines A330 on approach to Zurich, one of the axed destinations in recent past
Photo copyright PixAir
SriLankan has made the following changes to its Winter timetable.
UL505/6 on day 1, 4 cancelled
Morning LON flt. on 2,6,7 will operate via AUH as follows
511/2 CMB-AUH-LHR-AUH-CMB 0010-0315AUH0415-0900 LHR 1040-2045 AUH 2145- 0340+1 2,6,7 EQV
UL563/4 , the CDG terminator flt which ran CMB-FCO-CDG vv will become UL567, a triangular flt CMB-CDG-FCO-CMB
0230-1000 CDG 1110-1315 FCO 1425- 0340+1 343 357
UL553/4, which ran CMB-FRA vv will route via DXB
CMB-DXB-FRA vv
0001-2300-1 DXB 0001-0700 FRA 1030-1730 DXB 1830-0430+1
UL227/8 CMB-DXB-KWI vv on day 3,4,5,7 cxd
UL225/6 CMB-DXBvv will operate only on day 4
UL229/30 CMB-KWIvv operates on all 3,4,5,7
UL207/8 CMB-AUHvv on day 1,2,3,5,6,7 cxd
UL422/3 CMB-BKK-HKGvv fully cxd
UL460/1 CMB-MLE-NRT vv fully cxd
UL454/5 CMB-NRTvv will route through HKG
CMB-HKG-NRT-HKG-CMB 2145-0950+1HKG1050+1-1450+1NRT1620+1-2025+1HKG2125+1-2030+1 3,5,7 343
UL424/5 will operate CMB-BKKvv on 1,2,4,6
0720-1215BKK1905-2200 EQV
MLE svcs will continue to operate via UL101/2, 103/4 and 105/6.
These changes will go into effect from 1 July 2009.
Conclusion:
Bad things first – I really do not understand the point in operating LHR and FRA services via AUH and DXB respectively. Although UL will have lower fares than EK in the DXB-FRA-DXB sector, I do not think they will be able to compete with EK.
I am not sure whether CMB has taken such a hit in demand, but the capacity cuts are simply horrendous and makes me wonder what led them to cancel the UL460/1 CMB-MLE-NRTvv flight, which generated a good income from the MLE-NRTvv sector.
They should have simply operated the NRT flts as usual and reduce UL422/3 to twice weekly. I really do not see any other benefit in operating the NRT flt via HKG than delaying the journey of NRT passengers who used to fly nonstop in this gorgeous and one of the most profitable and oldest routes of the network.
SriLankan’s European network now really looks similar to the network of a stone-age airline equipped with DC10s – DXB-FRA, AUH-LHR, CDG-FCO.
The cuts on DXB-KWI route is not suprising to have a connection to Mihin Lanka’s recent launch of services on the same route in the same time window that UL227/8 operated.
SriLankan’s use of A330s and A340s is also kind of limited at the moment because they now have only three A320s ( with one leased to Mihin Lanka ) and they have to use the A330s and A340s to fill the gaps in the Indian network.
I can understand that there is a slump in demand, but if you work hard it could be overcome and that is one reason why airlines like Emirates are still short of capacity. A capacity cut is still inevitable, but I feel that a capacity cut and routing changes like these are EXCESSIVE. Hence it hurts me as a Sri Lankan to see this happening to our national airline.
Now let’s move to the good things.
Cancelling of DXB service is acceptable, EK has already grabbed much of the market share on this with their soon to be thrice daily flights, all aboard Boeing 777-300s or -300ERs. UL simply cannot compete on this sector anymore.
Change of FCO-CDG-FCO is also a welcome change since this would eliminate some additional costs.
The most important thing is, UL seems to be building a hub and spoke system and focusing on transit passengers. They might be late, but they are still not too late to become the preferred choice of hub in the Indian ocean, for which the teardrop island is strategically placed.
But guys, this pace is not fast enough ! You can’t win if you don’t bet !
There are some really talented guys working at UL who really work hard to make UL the best – they should be given the chances to implement their ideas.
All the best to SriLankan !
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