The A330/350 dilemma

And one of those pressing issues of course, is the $2.3 billion order for the A330 and A350 aircraft. SriLankan Airlines has taken delivery of all seven A330-300 aircraft, but the eight A350 aircraft were to be delivered in two consignments with the first arriving in 2016 and the second shipment from 2019-2020. In April Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe cancelled four A350s that were to be delivered with an associated penalty of $15 million, with the remaining four in various stages of production and the first slated for delivery by October.

“We are in discussion with interested parties and airline companies trying to see how best we can dispose these aircraft, Hashim told the Sri Lankan Business Times. “But we’re being charged for each day of the manufacturing process which is why we need to expedite the disposal because the charges will be high once they get to the latter stages,” added. The Public Enterprises Development Minister said the Government was working to find other carriers willing to take on the A330s and new A350 aircraft as the lease payments were “astronomically high”. “The leases for these aircraft were clearly artificially inflated,” Hashim added. “For just one A350 aircraft we are paying AerCap $1.4 million per month. Even the highest lease would have been about $1 million. For each A330 aircraft the government is overpaying $385,000 to $400,000 every month which is about 20 – 30 per cent more,” he said. “Given that the lease for the A350s is for 12 years, Sri Lanka is having to pay $230 million if they don’t find buyers,” he said in the Business Times report.

But in one positive move, SriLankan Airlines signed a wet-lease agreement with Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on 29 July for three of the A330s. The first aircraft will be delivered 1 August, while the rest will follow in subsequent months. SriLankan was currently using the aircraft on routes to Paris, Rome and Frankfurt. According to the Pakistan flag carrier, the A330s will be used primarily for a six times weekly premier service to London Heathrow, which is being launched 14 August. Three weekly flights will be operated from Islamabad and three from Lahore. SriLankan’s current fleet consists of 21 aircraft including eight A320/321, six A330-200 and seven A330-300 aircraft.