Summary

  • SriLankan’s most popular route is to Malé Velana Airport, with 89 flights in June.
  • Colombo to Chennai is the 2nd busiest international route in April, with 71 flights in June.
  • A total of 56 flights fly between Colombo and Mumbai in June.

Sri Lanka’s flag carrier, SriLankan (UL), is an Oneworld alliance member and is home to 22 aircraft from its home at Colombo’s Bandaranaike International Airport (CMB). From here, it operates a robust network of short-haul and long-haul routes across Asia, Australasia, the Middle East, the Indian Ocean, and Europe.

According to Cirium, an aviation analytics company, SriLankan Airlines’s most popular route, with 89 direct flights in June of this year, is to Malé-Velana International Airport in the picturesque archipelagic state of the Maldives. Simple Flying decided to analyse the numbers, aircraft, and competition SriLankan’s top five routes this June.

1

Malé-Velana International Airport (MLE)

Flights in June: 89

A SriLankan Airlines Airbus A321neo on the taxiway.

Photo: Airbus

SriLankan uses practically all of its fleet’s variants on this route, including the Airbus A330, A320, and A321. In June 2024, the carrier will serve Malé 89 times, representing 19,885 seats, or 223.4 per day. This equates to 9,604,455 available seat miles (ASM) on this route of just 483 miles. Picking a Wednesday in June, the airline schedule follows:

Flight number

From

To

Departure time

Arrival time

Flight duration

Aircraft

UL101

Colombo

Malé

07:20

08:15

1hr 25mins

A330-300

UL115

Colombo

Malé

13:30

14:25

1hr 25mins

A320

UL103

Colombo

Malé

18:55

19:50

1hr 25mins

A320

The route has stiff competition, with China Eastern Airlines, Chongqing Airlines (from June 24), Emirates, FitsAir, FlyDubai, Gulf Air, Maldivian, and Sri Lankan all operating the city pair.

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2

Chennai International Airport (MAA)

Flights in June: 71

SriLankan operates directly between Colombo and Chennai, a city of over 12 million in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The carrier will operate 71 services this June, representing 15,072 seats in each direction. This is equal to 212.3 per day and 6,028,800 ASMs. It’s 400 miles exactly in distance between the two airports. Schedule for the first Wednesday of June as below:

Flight number

From

To

Departure time

Arrival time

Flight duration

Aircraft

UL125

Colombo

Chennai

00:45

02:10

1hr 25mins

A320

UL121

Colombo

Chennai

07:25

08:50

1hr 25mins

A330-300

UL127

Colombo

Chennai

13:40

15:05

1hr 25mins

A320

Other carriers present on the city pair include Air India, FitsAir, and IndiGo. According to Flightradar24, this is the second busiest international route overall from Colombo in April 2024, just behind Dubai (DXB).

3

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (BOM)

Flights in June: 56

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, serving Mumbai, India, is SriLankan Airlines’ third most popular route. At a distance of 946 miles, the airport is SriLankan Airlines’ third most popular route. The carrier will see 56 direct flights in June, representing 9,500 seats and 8,987,000 available seat miles. This equates to 169.6 seats per day.

Flight number

From

To

Departure time

Arrival time

Flight duration

Aircraft

UL143

Colombo

Mumbai

17:20

19:50

2hr 30mins

A320

UL141

Colombo

Mumbai

23:40

02:10 +1 day

2hr 30mins

A320

SriLankan, IndiGo, and Vistara are all present between these cities. According to Flightradar24, this is the sixth busiest international route from Colombo in April 2024.

4

Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL)

Flights in June: 52

With 7,636 seats in each direction, SriLankan will operate 52 direct services between Colombo and New Delhi, the capital of India. With an average of 146.8 seats per day, the ASM on the route is 11,324,188.

Flight number

From

To

Departure time

Arrival time

Flight duration

Aircraft

UL191

Colombo

New Delhi

00:40

04:15

3hr 35mins

A320

UL195

Colombo

New Delhi

14:10

17:45

3hr 35mins

A320

Air India and SriLankan are the only carriers operating the 1,483-mile route, which, according to Flightradar24, was the ninth busiest international route overall from Colombo in April 2024.

SriLankan-A320-1

Photo: SriLankan Airlines

​​​​

5

Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK)

Flights in June: 42

At a distance of 1,487 between Colombo and Bangkok, Thailand, this is the longest by distance in our top five. SriLankan’s service to the Thai capital will see 42 flights in June, representing 6,002 seats each way. Available seat miles are 8,927,974 and represent 142.9 seats per day.

Flight number

From

To

Departure time

Arrival time

Flight duration

Aircraft

UL402

Colombo

Bangkok

01:10

06:15

3hr 35mins

A320

UL404

Colombo

Bangkok

07:50

12:55

3hr 35mins

A320

SriLankan and Thai Airways International operate between Bandaranaike and Suvarnabhumi, which, according to Flightradar24, was the seventh busiest international city pair from Colombo in April 2024. Thai AirAsia also indirectly connects the two cities, albeit to Don Mueang International Airport (DMK), a secondary airport 26.8 km (16.6 miles) northeast of Bangkok.

According to data from ch-Aviation, the airline operates a fleet of 15 active and six inactive aircraft. This is composed of:

  • Four Airbus A320-200, with two parked. Their average age is 14.1 years, and historically, the carrier had 11 more of this variant.
  • One Airbus A320neo, with one parked. The average age of these aircraft is 7.2 years, and they can seat 150 passengers.
  • Two Airbus A321neo, with an additional two parked. At just 6.5 years old, these are the youngest aircraft in the all Airbus fleet.
  • Two Airbus A330-200 aircraft, with an extra on wet lease. These aircraft have an average age of 15 years.
  • Six Airbus A330-300, with one more parked. These aircraft, with an average age of nine years, make up the backbone of the airline’s long-haul network.

Other notable mentions include the A319-100, A321-200, and A340-300, which have all been retired from the carrier’s fleet. However, new horizons are about to be reached, with four A350-900 on order.

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  • srilankan-airlines-ceo-interview-capa-live-getty

    SriLankan Airlines

    IATA/ICAO Code:
    UL/ALK

    Airline Type:
    Full Service Carrier

    Year Founded:
    1972

    Alliance:
    oneworld

    CEO:
    Richard Nuttall

    Country:
    Sri Lanka

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