SriLankan finalizes A321neo leases with AerCap, ALC

Numerous airlines including Air India (AI, Mumbai Int'l), United Airlines (UA, Chicago O'Hare), Malindo Air (OD, Kuala Lumpur Int'l), and Air Astana (KC, Nur-Sultan) have announced changes to their schedules following the full reopening of the Pakistani airspace to overflights.

The Press Trust of India has reported that Air India will relaunch its Delhi Int'l-Amritsar-Birmingham Int'l route on August 15. Flights will operate 3x weekly with the same frequency as before the closure in February 2019. It is unclear whether the carrier will at the same time resume the 3x weekly direct services from Delhi to Birmingham, to Madrid Barajas, Kabul, and Najaf, which were also suspended earlier this year.

The carrier's online booking system does not yet reflect the changes. Air India suspended services to Birmingham, Kabul, and Najaf on March 16, more than two weeks after the initial closure of the Pakistani airspace.

According to The Hindu, the Indian flag carrier lost some INR4.9 billion rupees (USD71 million) through...

The Sri Lankan government approved a proposal to cut aviation fuel prices, ground handling charges, and passenger taxes in order to boost tourism to the island.

The government-run website News.lk said that the proposal was tabled by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority together with the Prime Minister’s office, the Ministry of Tourism, and the Civil Aviation Authority. The measures will initially be introduced for six months.

The measure was introduced in response to the drop in inbound tourism following the April 21 terrorist attacks in churches and hotels. According to the government, airlines reduced their daily supply of seats to Sri Lanka by 8,000 in the wake of the attack. The losses to the economy of the country are estimated at LKR51 million rupees (USD260,000) per day.

Tourism contributes over 10% to the Sri Lankan GDP.

According to the ch-aviation capacities module, Colombo Int'l, Sri Lanka's only international gateway, currently sees 118,024 scheduled international departure seats on sale weekly. 27 carriers offer, in total, 558 weekly departures on 43 international routes. Flag carrier...

Oman Air (WY, Muscat) has warned he will start negotiations with Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) if Boeing (BOE, Chicago O'Hare) fails to provide a promised support and recovery plan for its grounded B737 MAX by the start of the Paris Airshow 2019 on Monday, June 17.

In a statement issued on Friday, June 14, chief executive Abdulaziz Al Raisi said Oman Air had suffered "a major financial impact" as a result of the MAX's absence which, he said, had forced the airline to curtail its growth plans for 2019. This, in turn, had impacted the airline's revenue inflows and market share.

"If I don’t hear back from Boeing before I arrive at Paris Le Bourget Airport, then I will have to go ahead with my planned business lunch with Airbus at the airshow," Al Raisi said in a statement to the Oman News Agency, referring to the Paris Airshow that officially opens on Monday, June 17.

The Omani carrier has five B737-8s that are grounded with the delivery of...