Heard a rumour the management is considering closing down SriLankan and starting a new company as Air Lanka. Any info on this ?

Shades of Air Ceylon....again.:}

"If you don't mind my asking, what do you guys think of Peter Hill ?"

He did what he was sent to do by his EK friends and Master........think he did a good job for them. :ok:

The same management team at UL today were the chaps who baked cakes for his birthday and sang Hosanna and are today 'backing' the GoSL after a 180 deg about turn. Are they now being sincere, is another matter as they are more interested in holding onto their posts and perks than doing a honest job. :\

Nothing wrong with that guy, it's the UL management and some politicians who allowed EK to humbug UL.........if that is part of your question Kflyer. ;)

In fact I believe Hill did well. Tsunami, the LTTE attack. I don't think current management could've survived it. Hill was hired by EK, but he wasn't an EK employee. If GoSL wished they could've retained him after the contract. He wanted to expand UL - resume ZRH,SYD,MEL, launch MAN and buy a few A321s , but EK didn't give him board approval, which I think you guys know better than I do.

So when 4R-ABE is returned next month or so, and likely sold/dismantled, UL will become an airline with a fully leased fleet ?

Any news about the murder?
 

Did the police really close the case about the poor chap that got murdered in his house? Suicide, are these cops out of their minds? :eek:

SL Hora-Police
 

Interesting topic, Police have been busy hitting headlines recently every day ...Shall we start a thread? we can have a laugh!!!!!! :D

Closing Srilankan (rumour)
 

The Management at Srilankan Airlines were indeed thinking of this. The plan was to close Srilankan Airlines down and with fresh capital to start a new airline (most likely under the name Airlanka).

But the desert boys EK said "No can do"!! Having 43% stake in the airline, they insisted that if the sneaky plan goes ahead, then EK would claim that amount from Srilankan's assets.

In effect, with 43% less in capital to start the new airline, the plan went dead.

Shades Of Air Ceylon
 

Well I think there is a difference friends....

Air Ceylon went bust, Airlanka was taken over by Sri Lankan which was run by EK and they were doing fine until some of our smart boys thought it's time for the picking and chucked them away, they left with almost $100 Mil in the kitty and now we are in the Minus...now who is to be blamed and where does the blame game start?

I don't see the people who stood on stages and joind hands with other unions and politicians saying WE CAN DO IT...talking now! Or are they still blaming EK for all this, most probably, that's how short their memory is and their brain capacity is.

Look at Oman Air, it shows the calibre of management where Hill is doing fine and expanding while we are drowning...yet we vinge....

Over to the nationalistic boys... where are you now? Over to the Unions...still haven't got your hands inside the management yet? Over to all who supported the take over....where are you now, what's your status? Did you think of an alternate?
:*:*:{

Good questions Khan. Right now the only way for SriLankan to avoid going bust is to change the management. It need not be a complete foreign management, there are many capable individuals here, although not in aviation ( eg: Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya who is now COO of Axiata as well ). But this management has proved that they cannot.
They are looking at ZRH now. Another twice weekly, another FRA/CDG transit most probably. And I believe they will sell 4R-ABE next month, which afaik is the only aircraft under ownership.

Whats Next
 

Didnt we do well ? atleast had some fresh plans when the Airline was taken over by Harry J after Ek left.Atleast the history tells that when he was the Chairman once in 90 s Airlanka did well too ...(Our Days )

Right now with low reputation of Sri Lakan Airlines ( Specially with the Current Administration/Governments International Reputation for Human Rights etc) , the Industry being gloomy , IATA predicts the Numbers will not go up till 2012 in the International Air travel , No AirLine will ever take over Sri Lanka .... End of the day the Countries situation reflects from the National Carier....

While Ek still holding 43% and the Government not having enough money to bail out ,the future is absolutely doubtfull for Sri Lankan Airlines.There are 2-3 main things to do, go ahead and do a radical downsizing programme.Reduce the cost of the oversees stations and their Managers, Cut down Staff travel, perks, traveling transport etc etc , Then again they should have a huge kitty to give the employees a VRS and also need to negotiate with the Union carefully because its the biggest in the Country. Cut down wages of the Pilots.If they cut down 15%-20% thats going to make the Balance Sheet healthy next year.

Cut down the Wages.Britsh Airways freezed Recruitment/Bonuses/and also cut down wages and shifts etc.But What we did was spent more money on our Cabin uniforms.

And the last thing is we have to go ahead with the attitude " Anything for the Country" .So CAA should take steps prevent to reduce the frequencies and not to sign any Open Sky policys for other Airlines and increas the Ground Handling Chares for the Airlines where we can stop them automatically.

Start the Onece more profitable Domestic Sea Plane Operation again.

Link up with the Tourism ministry properly.

Then again to expedite all these things you need a good think tank who have proved something in the Business World. I do not think we can ever attract Good reputed COOs, CEO s like Dr Hanz ( is that the Dialog guy) etc to take over and run.Might as well we give this to Our famous Sa Jin Vaaassss and bugger will put them in RIP.

Its sad when you see Oman Air and Air Asias doing well and the frequancy of Cathay, Singapore Emirates have gone up.Surely there is enough traffick load in this part of the World ... Why we have to let these people come and have our cake .......Its not just the management even the Chief Pilots who are bunch of Ego headed Yankees should leave as wel.

Not allowing others to operate in, not allowing open skies and downsizing are the worst. The first two help greatly to increase tourist traffic to CMB which will help UL. Downsizing will only diminish further. UL needs to have a dynamic business plan. Identify our niche and cater for it.

I think BigJetJumbo got it just right.

KFlyer you seems to know something but not everything. You want the airline with no money to expand !! Ever herd of "Lean and Mean Operation" ? Knowing something is not enough !! We all like to see UL expanding , but at the moment its a battle for survival. In order to survive they have to make sacrifices. Sacrifices are not easy.

Not allowing the others to operate is good because then its less competition. Down sizing is good . It will allow UL to regroup and to come up with a business plan which will make sense. Down sizing will NOT diminish the UL brand.

forum
 

opps seems like a complicated forum ..... this is what we need here, who ever is based and in to aviation should put their thoughts ,,,, I agree with Downsizing but preventing other airlines will make a chaos internationaly.Since we are already at the recieving end when it comes to diplomatic issues these days .

What we need is to think as a NATION.We lack that.As a Country we are all over the place without any direction.People in Power are worried about being in power for the next 12 years.They need to find solutions for short term crisis in the country.We need a Strategy to recover.We need not only ONE strategy now.We need mutiple strategies aimed at every single problem faced at UL.

The main reason for everything is personality has come ahead of the country. COUNTRY should come first. What ever said and done We cannot just blame the Management cos their hands are tight.They just want to enjoy their perks.We need a good Leadership.......who knows about Economy, International trade.Invetsment ,Growth etc.

Rumour about Closing the Srilankan For a week and Starting as Mihin
 

Guys...Did anyone hear about this...People are talking that UL is going to be shut down its operation for a while and restart as Mihin after few weeks time without EK and 100% government operation..Changing in Cabin crew uniforms increases this doubt as it's going to be pretty close to Mihin Lanka Uniform...

May be it's just another story...But lets keep our eyes open...

@UL312: I haven't mentioned of expanding, but downsizing is not an option. UL is already losing its market share due to undercutting by QR and the likes. If UL downsizes, do you think there will be any market left ?

I think wetdrops was right, EK will not let GoSL close down UL for 'free'. Their demand is $150m.

if downsizing is not an option. Do you think UL should continue to operate making huge losses and eventually running out of options ?

@UL312 If UL is to operate only on routes that break even, it means to become a regional carrier. Each and every part of the network is important. After all, UL need not to downsize to 'think'. In a situation like this, UL should do its best to capture the new tourist arrivals. Forget not, there is a huge overstaffing. If UL is to downsize, EK and QR will take over all the long haul traffic to Sri Lanka and needless to say, UL will never be able to recapture that share. Think of the longer term.
However, it appears current management is not wise enough to do either expanding or downsizing right.

Comments
 

Your coments appriciated but Kflyer your veiws are bit contradicting in the real world.My question is with the current situation unable to generate revenue UL does not have a way of Expanding.

What I mean is the FLEET EXPANSION and NETWORK.

Bad news flowing everyday for UL because a freind of mine told me that Etihad will be starting 4 times a week from Abu dhabi to CMB.

I heard we arranged a 330 for Abudhabi recently?so than what ?

So if Etihad, Cathay. Oman Air, Air Asia, Singapore ,Austrian, Emirates have resumed flying or increasing the flights to Colombo then the state of UL expanding is doubtful. Unless they reduce the pricing and fill the plane.Hot Seats Promotion is a short term concept.We need to have Long Range Planning to capture the market.Mind you all these Airlines resumed flights to CMB as a long term plan.

In Terms of Downsizing, I meant they need to reduce the work force.thats the global trend and the only solution practiced by most companies accept USa where the Federal Government bail them out.
JOb cuts done by Air India, British Airways and Singapore not renewing the expat contracts.UL simply cannot afford 5500 people for 12 Aircrafts.

To my knowlwsge there are only 3 solutions ,

1/Ask for a huge cheque from the MR Government ( Very unlikely)
2/Sell the remaining shares to another Operator ( No bodys interrested)
3/ Senior Managers should take a Pay cut and work for atleast 6 months
( I ve heard again thru a friend of mine Snr Managers been asked to take 1 year No pay)BUT after One year when they come back it will be the same ???????
4/Limit the Departmental budgets by atleast by 60% without jeorpadising the safety such as Crew training and Maintanance.

If the Wages of the CEO is $ 30,000 to $40,000 per month he cant take a 50% pay cut and lead by example.A senior Management Pilot gets $ 8000-9000 per month and he can get a 35% pay cut .( Some get around $10,000 per month ) think about the savings.You cannot have the Job stabilty and Perks at the same time at this cruacial time.Even a F/O should be able to sacrifice 5-10 % of there wages too.

Somebody mentioned having Dr Hans as the CEO.well Dialog GSM expanded very fast and now strugling.So the CEO s taking a Pay cut of 50% and leading by example.He made it a point to send 300-400 middle level managers redundent too.Dialog was 3 times bigger than UL.

One must not forget some Airline staff worked free of charge to save their Jobs . I was told UL implemented a very good fuel saving plan but they need to do more than that to increase the value of assets than the liabilities in next years balance sheet as at 31 March 2010..

Jumbo, Etihad will be flying 4 times weekly A320s. But it won't affect UL much thanks to the codeshare deal.
What you state is not wrong at all, but will not help UL in the long run.
Let me clarify, UL is a mess from the top down. Those political Board of Directors aren't working for free, right ?
UL had 8 aircraft under ownership when GoSL took over which is now down to one and will shortly be none following 4R-ABE's return.
UL is lost in time. The management does not have a plan or a sense on what to do. Their meaning of expansion is clear from routes like CMB-CDG-MXP which are unlikely to break even. Serving a destination is not what matters, but doing it right. UL now has a golden opportunity in front of them - which UL should exploit and is the main reason why I am saying UL should expand. It is not as hard as one might think. Stringent financial measures need to be taken and are a must, which successful airline does not have ? Use some US Ex-Im financing and bonds to lease any aircraft ( should UL need ). Increase the utilization of the A320s that fall less than 8h daily. And finally appoint a management that 'can'. Downsizing is not an option because UL has nothing left to cut. The current routes are the most important. If one expects to run an airline which has routes that all break even, he better not go international. Figure out the strategy for UL. UL has a national responsibility as a national carrier of a country where private airlines are not allowed to fly international. Hence the long-hauls are important. What should not have happened is cutting down the Indian routes which could have formed a great feeder network. Selling six aircraft increased the employees per aircraft ratio. Finally cutting down will be a giving up as UL will never be able to regain that market share with the likes of EK, QR, EY and WY. This is why UL should not downsize. UL does not need to be the one hiding head in sand someday ( if it survives, of course ).

P.S: The worst thing UL management did was taking BA and AI as examples of great airlines that are in trouble.

@KFLyer2 How can you say that Etihad flying into Colombo wont effect UL because of the code share deal ? That does not make any sense. Etihad flying in means there is another option for people. Which means the traffic can be split. Code share deal cannot do anything to us if they purchase an Etihad ticket and fly on an Etihad aircraft. Perhaps you need to do more reading and learn a few things before you write things.

And fyi ABE is not owned by UL. It never was. And once again you keep repeating your self saying UL should expand. To expand they need money which UL does not have. Expanding without getting in to the source of the problem will make things worse.

Getting other troubled airlines as examples was a good thing. We can learn from their mistakes . BA is well on its way for a recovery and Air India is getting there (slowly) They both had to cut capacity and had to downsized which are working quite well for them. The solution to any problem is to first admit there is a problem and to take the hard steps to make it right.

Any airline can regain market share if they offer a quality product at a cheaper rate than the competition. Do some reading and get the facts write before you write.

Agree
 

Agree with 312.

Kflyer , sorry doesnt make sence to me .

All the best for UL anyway.:ugh:

If ABE is not owned, does it mean UL does not have any aircraft under ownership now ?
Who says BA & AI are on the way to recovery ? Not at all. AI would have been already bankrupt if not for the government loan agreed last week and BA is in the red 'as usual'. The airlines that are doing well are Ethiopian, Air France, RJ, Emirates and LAN. The ones that are recovering are MH, Kenya, Air New Zealand, the bunch of Chinese carriers and KLM to some extent. AI is in a historical financial grave.
I've not mentioned that UL should expand, but it should not downsize. Keep the current network and address the losses, there is a lot that could be done.
We need not to get into a battle for this.

Found a CEO
 

Since some of you have mentioned geting a new CEO y not concider Gen Fonseka for the Post.

If Gen Atygala was made the CEO during late 80 s , I feel Gen Fonseka could do a good Job .That could leave President not taking anymore aircrafts for his personal trips due to safety reasons( IF you know what I mean ) :ok:

Have a Go on this Chaps!!!!!

Aye aye justiceman. I think I know what you mean.

I too believe that the only way Srilankan Airlines can survive the present crisis is to increase frequencies to key destinations. Thereby generating more revenue.

With no Government bailout and no investors, this is the only option left for the airline.

The airline is over staffed ... no doubt about that! The Management has to continue its effective cost cutting measures and open up routes that are viable for the airline. The expatriate pilot contracts have to be terminated, A320 utilisation has to increase, top management benefits have to be curtailed and the lucrative Indian destinations have to be re-opened.

So far, the management have been poor decision makers. The biggest blunder they made was to reduce flights to Indian destinations.

Flying Srilankan Airlines is not cheap. The Middle East Carriers cannot be competed with. But to survive - they have to remain in the market.

Agree with you hands down, wetdrops. But no, UL will have to keep fares low unless the product is improved. I was told that expat pilots now get a lower wage, if this is true I believe they need not to be laid off ?

Question!!!
 

KFLYER2, Do you really think just because expat pilots get a lower wage, they should be working here when there are hundreds of local pilots waiting for years to start their career??? Do you really think thats how it should be??? Also What you mean by a lower wage??? Compared to whom??? their previous wage??? Will they work for a lesser wage than a local pilot??? I think we should learn lesson from India (Atleast in this case as they have given a good example) and singapore...
I'm sure you are aware of that recruiting expat pilots is against the law in this country providing there are suitable local pilots to do the same job...So I really dont know why they still keeping them. Especially with the Mahinda Chinthanaya!!!:confused:

@Kflyer2 When you wrote about ABE I thought you knew the facts. It looks like you wrote what you assumed. This is the issue that I'm talking about. Before you write ( on this forum or your blog) you need to do the proper research and get the facts RIGHT.

Well for the recovery of the airlines. AI and BA are recovering (but slowly) eg AI is switching most of its operations to 777s and getting rid of its excess fleet. BA is reducing the fleet and asking staff to work for free.Recovery from troubled times cannot be don overnight. It takes a lot of time and careful planning.

Some of the airlines which you mentioned eg AF and Emirates have differed deliveries and cut down frequencies and routes (a little bit of research you would have found it your self). So you can't call them as doing well. If they were they wouldn't have done that , now would they ?

The whole industry is not doing so well but. its getting better. Till it is, the best thing to do in my opinion is to run a lean and mean operation ( although I'm sure you will once again repeat your self saying downsizing is bad and market share will be lost bla bla bla....:ugh:)

funny
 

thats a funny comment!!!!

Heard the new Chinese Aircrafts will be given to Mihin Lanka.So will the A320 Pilots fly turbor props ? or the government will make the Airforce guys to fly them.Then there will be excess Pilots on A320 isnt it?

UL312, sorry mate, it's you who are mistaken. Find the right facts. BA and specially AI, are through heavily turbulent times. AI is going to sell its fleet of 77Ls. And replacing 747s with 777s is not going to do them any good when they launch routes such as DEL-JFK-IAD. Like I said earlier, if not for the government bail out they would have already been history. Taking AI as an example of an airline recovering is hilarious. Where and when has AF and EK differed deliveries ? They have not, but even if they did, it does not mean they are doing bad. An aircraft differing does not come at airline's inability, but also because of a lack of a demand which is not the carrier's fault. And where have they cut frequencies ? From what I know both have increased frequencies and EK itself increased India to 182 weekly flights and launched a couple new destinations.
Re ABE, I was under the assumption that UL had at least one aircraft under its ownership.
Like I said earlier, we need not to get into a battle for this.
Plus, if you mean a lean operation, then expanding is a must because UL is overstaffed but cannot lay off either. Why don't you understand that UL cannot regain its market share if lost once ? Plus which other destinations are left to be cut ? Please present us your plan.

@KLFyer AI is fully owned by the govt. So they will bail them out. Returning the leased 77Ls back to united and selling the older A320s and replacing the 747s with 777 is called downsizing.

UL have also been bailed out by the govt in the past.

Differing planes by major airlines ! what do you call that ? EK is an exception. Its sitting on a huge cash reserve (as well as a dwindling but still large oil reserve) .Its got huge govt subsidies and also has their unconditional support. It cannot be compared with the others. Same goes to Etihad and Qatar.

About ABE: the problem is, your writing evolves around your assumptions. Assumptions can be wrong and it can send out the wrong message if you write based on incorrect and unconfirmed facts.

So your solution is to expand the airlines because its over staffed ? that itself explains how pointless your theories are. This is the real world son ! Some staff will have to go , whether they (company) like it or not. Otherwise everyone might loose their jobs.

There are many airlines which have downsized and returned back to their previous glory. Its a matter of having a good fail safe plan. No matter how you say that It cannot be done "using you *expert* knowledge", IT CAN BE DONE.

You call me not knowing the facts when you in fact do not. AI did not lease 77Ls from UA, that were the 772s. And AI is not selling any A320s either. AI currently does not have any proper business plan and is not on its way to recovery like you say.
The unfortune is, UL312, the UL management seems to be thinking along the same lines or even worse. No point in trying to explain it.
Downsizing could have worked, five years ago, but not now. Competition is fierce, specially in this part of the world. If you go out, that's forever.
What should be done is reducing and curtailing the costs, not the operations.
After all, what else has UL left to downsize ? Better close down all the routes and the company itself. End of story.

Once again a bit of reading would have saved you a lot of humiliation.

Air India to sell older A320s and return leased aircraft

Hey guys just hang on to your horses and stop this bickering ! There's no point in getting your knickers in a twist over comments made over a rumor network !

KFLIER you had put in some good and thought provoking comments so let's continue from there - may not be gospel truth as we all know......even the gospel is being challenged these days, mate so who cares?

As for BA and AI recovering...........well UL312, that's way off target brother. Just take it easy :=

If the management is serious about getting things done, then there's a great chance for them as GF is selling out its A340s. These machines are a bit old ( MSN 100s range ) but not old as ADA, ADB and ADC and would be available at very cheap lease rates. An excellent chance if they want to expand. They are wanting to resume ZRH, which I know. Leasing one and reshuffling the European network is a good thing. Finances won't be a problem thanks to the leaseback of A330s.
However, anybody got details on what's going to happen to pilots flying for MJ ? If I'm not mistaken, MJ is going to get a 737.

From the above posts I see (as usual) that where there are 10 pilots, there are 15 answers! Yet "Ours is not to reason why but our is just to sit and fly" We can't all be CEO's . It will be case of all Chiefs and no Injuns. When the times are tough the tough should get going. I agree with Moderate, don't feel when you got to think (and don't think when you got to feel.) Bickering gets us nowhere.

Have we got the 'Mangement' we deserve? Have we the thinking pilots done too little too late. Where is the ALPGSL? Should our thoughts be funneled though them?

By the way prural of aircraft is aircraft!

Chinese Seat Plan.
 

So who will fly the new chinese planes.?

Heard they are brand new with 52 Seats ( around 10 rows ) and dont know whether they are made to the chinese specs ( they are short) of having close together.If Yes, then Mihin can remove every other row to leave some room for |Sri Lankans specificaton because We are Taller than the chinese.So Mihin will ended up with 25-30 seats ...

hmm then again it will be loss of taking 25 pax eachtime.Back to Sqaure One.Good point to get away from all the Mud in the Parliment though... ( Blame the Chinese Manufacturer)

Aren't they supposed to lease a narrowbody Western jet reportedly from a Malaysian company ?

The Chinese turboprops are going to be used by the air force for internal flying. I believe that Sixty seater a/c are too big fo such an operation.

I think they are going to get MA-60s. If so, no big deal as they are simply a different derivative of An-26. Sixty seats are fine for Sri Lankan domestic ops, only problem is that the operator doesn't have an AOC.