Emirates announced that both its daily flights between Dubai and Moscow will now be operated by the airline’s iconic airbus A380.

Commencing 1^st October 2017, the double daily Airbus A380 service will significantly boost seat capacity to and from Russia in order to meet customer demand. It will also allow multiple A380 to A380 connections to a wide range of destinations such as:

Mauritius, Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Mumbai, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Auckland, Christchurch, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Seoul, Tokyo, Taipei and Sao Paolo.

Currently the airbus A380 cannot fly into Colombo due to runway restrictions. so the new Moscow flights will connect to one of the three Boeing 777 aircrafts operating between Dubai and Sri Lanka.

Since Emirates started flying from its Dubai hub to Moscow in 2003. The airline has carried over 4 million passengers on the route. This aircraft upgrade sees an increase of over 1,000 seats per week and clearly demonstrates Emirates’ commitment to the Russian market. and further supporting tourism and trade links between the Middle East and countries connected by the vast Emirates worldwide route network including Sri Lanka and Russia.

Flights EK131/132 and EK133/134 will be operated by an Airbus A380 aircraft in a three-class configuration with 14 Private Suites in First Class, 76 flat-bed seats in Business Class and 427 seats in Economy Class.

Emirates has also made amendments to its winter schedule to and from St Petersburg, giving passengers even easier connections to many Emirates destinations including Maldives, Thailand and Sri Lanka with just a short stop in Dubai.

From 29^th October 2017 until March 24, 2018 EK176 will depart from Pulkovo International Airport at 23:55hrs and land at Dubai International Airport the next day at 07:05hrs.

The new times will enable clients travelling to Dubai an additional day in the city, arriving from Saint Petersburg early in the morning instead of late evening. Given that Russian customers can now receive a FREE UAE visa on arrival, the new schedule opens up even more opportunities to explore the city and take advantage of the following early morning’s departure from Dubai to Colombo Sri Lanka.

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New Direct flight service from Melbourne to Colombo

This is a big embarrassment to the airport, the government and officials. Surely the contractors knew how to read a tape measure!!!

The Bandaranaike International Airport was closed for daytime flights from 830am to 430pm for three months from January 6, 2017. The runway re opened as schedule on the 6^th April and hailed a total success.

However, It was later revealed that the project was a total waste of time and money. The project was to include the widening the 45-metre main runway to 75 metres and to re-lay the surface to fix the lighting system. The initial estimate for the project stood at LKR 7.2 billion.

The extra wide runway would also allow for larger aircraft such as the Airbus A380 super jumbo to be able to use the airport.

The problem is that the contractors measured the extra 30 metres incorrectly and actually only widened the runway to 60 metres making it short by 15 metres when measured by the IATA officials.

This is a big embarressment to the airport, the government and officials. Surely the contractors knew how to read a tape measure!!!

SriLankan Airlines alone incurred an approximate loss of USD 40 million during the time the runway was shut down for refurbishment. This is excluding other major airlines such as Emirates and Qatar Airways that had to reduce operations and all the airlines that had to reschedule operations which was a major feat in itself.

The total loss to Sri Lankan tourism for this period was estimated to be $80 million, however Sri Lankan Tourist Board denies this figure.

Leader of JVP Anura Kumara Dissanayake, speaking on the issue said:

“We closed the airport for six months from 8 in the morning to 4 in the evening. The loss has been calculated at 7.6 billion. But what has happened after they reconstructed the runway incurring a loss of Rs. 7.6 billion. It has come to a situation where the A380s cannot land there. They had rolled back the previous plan but the cost has increased by USD 30 million. It is clear that the anticipated task has not been achieved”.

Chairman of  Sri Lanka Nidahas Sevaka Sangamaya, Janaka Wijepathiratne speaking on the issue said:

“We worked for 16 long sleepless hours in the night shift to facilitate the construction activities of the runway. But after all of this. if the international aviation authorities are not granting permission for bigger flights to land here, we see this as a massive waste of money. We are asking the government to provide a clarification”.

It has now been estimated that an additional cost of $30 million needs to be spent in order to do the job properly. Not one airport official has confirmed as to whether the airport runway needs to closed again for a second time with a huge inconvenience to airlines and tourism as a whole.

Colombo Airport (CMB) Re Opens for daytime flights on schedule

Civil Aviation and Transport Ministry said today 4th April 2017 that. “The main runway of the Bandaranaike Airport (CMB) ie Colombo International Airport will become fully operational again for daytime flights on Thursday April 06th 2017″.

The Srilankan Airlines’ new aircraft (UL-1162)  would make the first landing on the runway. The airport’s main runway was closed for renovations on January 6.  Ministry said  the construction was effective to expand the existing runway from 65 metres wide to 75 metres.

The new runway is now fully comprised with the LED lighting system, enabling the airport to operate even under bad weather condition & the new renovated runway would also allow for larger aircraft such as the A380 to use the airport,” ministry said.