Review of SriLankan Airlines flight Chennai → Colombo in Economy

Dedication

This report is dedicated to Flight-Report member @Jish.B a.k.a. CollegeAviator, who, like me, left his home of many years for the final time on a SriLankan Airlines A330-200, and on this very MAA⇔CMB sector — a very nostalgic and to some extent depressing flight for both of us. A lot of my passion for travel and flight reports, with bright and deep-hearted descriptions, I owe to him. Unfortunately he is no longer active here but I hope that, wherever he is, he is safe and happy. I do hope we can cross paths one day, all the more so because he, like me, is originally from Kolkata in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal, and we have long histories of studying abroad, he in the US and me in Singapore!

Introduction: SriLankan serendib-ity

Ayubowan, as they say in Sinhala, to my next trip report! After spending a week including my birthday in two South Indian cities — laidback, well-organised Chennai, my family’s home for twenty years but not any more, and futuristic but frenetic Bengaluru (I travelled there this time by train, not air), where we have now shifted in May 2023 — it was time to say one last goodbye to the city where I have spent most of my life and childhood. It would be a very bittersweet farewell, and to make the occasion as memorable as possible, I had asked my father to book a connecting ticket on the all-Airbus Oneworld carrier SriLankan Airlines to Singapore, which with its daytime departure, short connection and early-evening arrival was as convenient as it was cheap. Not to mention, it guaranteed an A330 with proper seatback IFE, an infinitely better product than the bare-bones IndiGo and Air India A320s that ply the daytime sector, and far more affordable than the exorbitant Singapore Airlines 737 MAX morning route.

The routing would be UL122 MAA–CMB — my last departure from Chennai for a long time to come (just a week before the long-delayed New Integrated Terminal Building opened, where a select few international flights have started to ‘test’ arrivals and departures) — followed by UL308 CMB–SIN, which meant that I would be spending less than an hour in Sri Lanka, my first time in the tropical isle that has weathered a lot of instability and turbulence in recent years but emerged stronger from it. While the ancient, low-ceilinged Bandaranaike Airport (about as far north of Colombo as KLIA is south of Kuala Lumpur, where I returned from the other day) is pretty much like Chennai’s old ‘cattle shed’ of an international terminal — leagues away from the Changis, KLIAs and CSMIAs of Asia — I don’t have many complaints, since I was effectively back at the same gate where I had landed, and the apron lineup was pretty impressive, including a rare Russian visitor from Novosibirsk!

It would be my second time on a Oneworld airline — and the A330 — after Malaysia Airlines in October 2022. Unfortunately, neither could I get the modern A330-300 (like I did with MH) nor could I get different aircraft: both legs were operated by 4R-ALB, a grand old 1999-built A330-200, making this my first repeat registration in ages (sigh!). This is especially sad since, more often than not, the new A330-300 (4R-ALL–ALR) operates both the UL122 and UL308 legs on most days, but this time would not be one of them. However, I must say this in favour of 4R-ALB: you’d never guess her age judging by the modern IFE system and onboard product. While this is one of the oldest planes I have flown on, the cabin — and the IFE in particular — was far more polished and better maintained than on 9M-MTH, MH’s 2012-built A330-300 I’d flown half a year before, whose IFE was Irritating, Frustrating and Exasperating. Regardless of whether you get an old A320 or A330-200 like mine, or a brand-new A321neo or A330-300, you are unlikely to be disappointed by the economy hard product on SriLankan Airlines.

Combine this with the renowned friendliness and smiling crew of Oneworld’s smallest full member (not counting Fiji Airways), and you have a winner: UL may not have the finesse of alliance partner MH in its brand, or the profitability of a Gulf carrier or SQ, but you can see that this is a lovely little airline that is earnest and genuinely aims to delight. With its small but impressive fleet, it is the only top-notch full-service airline in South Asia other than Vistara — as long as the latter exists before Air India swallows it up — and a ‘UK vs. UL’ comparison will be a delicious one. Here’s to hoping that this small, money-bleeding airline is able to replace its faithful and refurbished but long-in-the-tooth A330-200s in the near future — because if even this old aircraft was so enjoyable to me, you can only imagine how wonderful its latest A321neos and A330-300s would be! (What’s more, SriLankan may not have been able to give me its A330-300, but it’s pretty much guaranteed for my upcoming flights on Garuda Indonesia, from Bali to Singapore via Jakarta — and I hope the crew of this SkyTeam airline is just as amazing as on SriLankan and Ethiopian (elaborated below).)

For those put off by the length of the previous two reports on Vistara and Air India, fret not: these SriLankan Airlines reports will be shorter by far.

The Ethiopian coincidences: a sneak peek (diversion)

Interestingly enough, I am publishing this report just days after an out-of-the-blue whirlwind weekend trip to Kuala Lumpur, organised by a co-living company in Singapore from where I have rented a home. They often organise tours like this for members at short notice, and I wasn’t going to pass up on an opportunity like this, especially because I have applied for a multiple-entry visa for Malaysia, which will allow me to explore more of Singapore’s northern neighbour over the next six months. Not least because it would be my first time in Malaysia proper, outside KLIA — the first foreign non-Indian airport I’d visited a decade ago — which is as spectacular with its infrastructure (aerotrain breakdowns aside!) as it is distant from the urban sprawl that is the Klang Valley conurbation. While some others on the trip took a bus to KL*, for me there were no two ways about it: I absolutely had to try out new airlines, no matter what the expense. Since food was completely paid for, I figured I might as well spend on the transportation, and splurge a bit (but not too much) on new products and memories — though future SG-to-KL trips will probably be by bus going forward, as they deliver more bang for less buck.

The onward was a morning flight on Scoot’s A321neo, a rather forgettable product on a registration (9V-NCI) I hadn’t been hoping for, and I haven’t exactly been as impressed by them as by AirAsia. Their cheeky, sassy marketing is quite irritating at times, and not what befits a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines. But the return was something else altogether: Ethiopian Airlines recently resumed its Addis Ababa to Singapore flight, with a fifth-freedom tag to KL. ET639’s late-night departure, while exhausting for the following day, was the best option to squeeze as much as I could of KL’s glitzy shopping malls in glamorous districts like Mid Valley, Bukit Bintang and Bangsar. What’s more, 14 May was not only the birthday of the Star Alliance — ET is my fourth Star airline flown after AI, SQ and TG — but also that of ET-AOV (named Taj Mahal), the 787-8 that operated my flight. To top off the coincidences, it was Mother’s Day, and I penned a tribute to the fantastic crew — part of a workforce that also consists of many mothers — whose commitment and dedication have made ET Africa’s largest and most reputed airline. The girls were so delighted that they happily agreed to write down their names and pose for a picture with me. (In fact, ET has resumed publishing its Selamta magazine, and I was simply over the moon to take home a copy.) I expect the full reports to be published around September, and I hope the lovely Ethiopian crew gets to notice it then!

*Here KL refers to Kuala Lumpur, and not KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, which will be the next airline that I fly, to Denpasar/Bali in early June — and my very first flight on SkyTeam!

Nandri (thank you), Chennai: Leaving after two decades

Saturday, 1 April night. The previous night, I had completed check-in, and the seat page made it clear that I would NOT have the good fortune of getting the new A330-300 on either leg. Drat! (Fortunately, this disappointment would be remedied the following Monday (10 April) where I was booking the flights for my upcoming Bali trip, and the seatmap for both my flights on Garuda Indonesia clearly stated the A330-300. If I’m lucky I might even get the A330-900neo on the DPS–CGK segment, of which they have only three!)

Sunday, 2 April. I woke up bright and early on my last and final day in Chennai for the foreseeable future, and saw 4R-ALB stretching her legs on Flightradar24 with the radar switched on. I knew instinctively that this would be my aircraft, at least for the first leg — and, as it turned out, for the second as well.

SriLankan has five A330-200s: 4R-ALA/ALB/ALC (all built 1999), the Oneworld-liveried 4R-ALH (2004, out of action for many weeks at the time) and the somewhat newer 4R-ALS (2009). It had some others before: 4R-ALD/ALG/ALJ were all retired after a long and fruitful stint, but 4R-ALE and ALF were extremely short-lived, as they were destroyed in an airport attack in 2001 at barely one year of age. (4R-ALI and ALK do not exist.) These complement its seven A330-300s (4R-ALL to ALR), which I should have rightfully got but was denied this time around. One can expect some newer A330s to be taken on lease as these old veterans are progressively retired.

This would be an extremely emotional homeleaving, as this was the last time I would see the rooms of my home filled with household objects as they had been for nearly five years running. Before the end of the month, we had found a new home to rent in Bengaluru as well as a new tenant for this home. However, I must say that despite being larger than our previous home, the new home in Bengaluru has many more drawbacks than benefits: complete lack of air-conditioning (a red flag in the scorching summer heat), few amenities and shops in the complex, etc. Regardless, it was the best option at the time, and we had no choice but to take it.

A final look at the lush landscaped gardens we would be leaving behind.

It was around 7:30am when our car turned out, once and for all, and I left this lovely place for good. Granted, I hadn’t stayed as much here as in our preceding home (2002–2018), especially with the intervening pandemic period that kept me rooted to Singapore for most of 2020 and 2021, but I will miss it.

In half an hour or so we had pulled up to Chennai International Airport.

Say all you will about the lack of restaurants in the international terminal, but there is now at least an ‘Aerohub’ coming up, with plenty of restaurants for landside passengers — though once airside, the options are negligible. This is something that the New Integrated Terminal Building must fix ASAP.

The departing flights for the afternoon had a bunch of ecletic carriers, like US-Bangla Airlines (BS206) and fellow Lankan carrier FitsAir (8D834), which is the country’s first private international carrier in ages and a break to the SriLankan monopoly. The funky-looking Air Arabia office nearby was closed.

Chennai has zero flights to Malé and Phuket — both frequented by Indian budget carrier Go First, which ran aground this month, from cities like Bengaluru — but it has now managed to add Yangon, the largest city and former capital of Myanmar, thanks to a once-weekly flight on Myanmar Airways International (MAI)’s Embraer 190.

Another flight for which check-in was taking place was MH183, Malaysia Airlines’ morning 737 service. Since late October 2022, MH has flown only 737s to Chennai after its MH180/181 night flight was downgraded from the A330-300; I was lucky to have flown it before then.

At the far end of the terminal were the check-ins for SQ525 to Singapore and my flight, UL122 to Colombo.

The check-in line meandered a bit, but at length I was handed both boarding passes, presented in a folder that I have never seen with other airlines. I quite liked the design of the passes themselves, as they help to avoid the plain white appearance you often get with other airlines, notably SQ. (Also, the blue band on the top is in the correct place, unlike Thai Airways which squeezes the band to the left edge, forcing the Thai and Star Alliance logos into tiny corners — a mistake that’s avoided here.)

But the design of the folder struck me as strange, with the SriLankan logo pushed to the left edge, the Oneworld logo to the right and tons of white space in between — and the same on the reverse. This, I think, should have been improved, with a centred horizontal airline logo instead of this stacked one.

This would be the last I would see of my family (my parents and grandmother) for the next few months. At the end of April my granny returned to her Kolkata home, and days thereafter my parents moved to Bengaluru once and for all. I will be visiting them for a few days at the end of June, coincidng with the Eid-ul-Adha festival, which is called Hari Raya Haji in Malaysia and Singapore.

And now it was time to wait and wait in the Immigration line, which snaked through for a good half-hour, filled as it was with passengers on daytime flights to destinations like Kuwait and Dubai.

In the midst of all that waiting, I browsed through an article on SriLankan wanting to lease additional A330s, which will be required once 4R-ALB and her aged sisters enter a well-deserved retirement. Too bad UL had to cancel its A350 order a few years ago, at a hefty expense, or we would have seen it operate the sleek, modern nine-abreast jet like alliance partners Qatar, JAL, Malaysia and Fiji instead of only A330s.

After a prolonged wait I was finally through to the other side, which had a duty-free and some horrible book and handicraft stalls that had no place in a major international airport. Oh how I will love the full-fledged WHSmith and Relay when I land at BLR in June, something that MAA will never get.

4R-ALB had long since arrived, sitting next to A6-ENK from Dubai, and was now all but ready for departure.

For hopefully the final time ever, I turned right into the dreary ancient international terminal. At least, with Chennai, this is the only old part of the entire airport, but with CMB this is how the entire place looks like.

And passed through The Martini Lounge, which of course couldn’t have had much business at that time of day.

I was very close to departure, thanks to the unnecessarily long Immigration line, and headed straight for Gate 16 without delay. Not as horrible as that disgusting episode on TG338, though…

Down the old corridor I went — good riddance! Future passengers at MAA should hopefully be able to avoid this hellhole and travel via the New Integrated Terminal Building going forward.

There she was: not the one I’d been hoping for, but a pretty bird regardless, and a faithful one at that. A 23-year-old aircraft is equivalent to a 69-year-old human, as I see 1 plane year equal to 3 for humans. Later in April, 4R-ALA was withdrawn from the fleet, making 4R-ALB the oldest SriLankan plane of all, but I’ll be surprised if Lima Bravo lasts much longer in her current state.

Only a few SriLankan aircraft have names, like A320 4R-ABM (City of Anuradhapura) and A330-300 4R-ALM (City of Sihagiri), and this is not one of them.

On the other side were 737 MAX 8s of two Star Alliance airlines, one of which is the much-feted hometown airline of my adopted country, while I just flew the other a week ago — on a 787 named Taj Mahal. 9V-MBA was preparing for the 4x-weekly (Thursday–Sunday) SQ525 morning trip to Changi, while ET-AVM would rest here for 18 hours after arriving from Addis Ababa at 8am, making her return to ADD as ET693 the following night at 2:30am. (My Ethiopian flight from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore was simply a swapping of two digits: from ET693 to ET639!)

Interestingly, Ethiopian and Singapore are two of only four Star Alliance members to operate the 737 but not the A320. The other two are Copa Airlines and LOT Polish Airlines, which do not operate Airbus aircraft, and indeed the former Panamanian carrier is now an all-737 airline. (Thai Airways operates neither, being an all-widebody airline, but with the planned reintegration of Thai Smile into the mainline, you will soon see A320s in TG livery again; there were four of them in the mid-2010s. TG also operated the antiquated 737-400 until 2018.) However, I have sworn to avoid flying all 737s, MAX or otherwise — never mind the fact that Ethiopian Airlines was one of two airlines that tragically lost a 737 MAX four years ago, the other being Indonesia’s Lion Air, leading to it being grounded globally for a nearly-two-year period.

In the distance, one of hundreds of cookie-cutter A320neos took off: this was VT-IPM, one of the newest of all, departing as 6E269 to Bhubaneswar in the eastern state of Odisha.

A third 737 MAX 8, of Akasa Air, arrived in the background. This all-737-MAX newcomer has been extremely lucky so far, and has grown aggressively over the past nine or so months since it was launched — unlike the other hyped Indian startup-of-sorts, the reincarnation of Jet Airways, which came extremely close to takeoff but has now crash-landed with no hope of ever flying again. All the more so since its Air Operators’ Certificate (obtained a year ago) has expired, and there is no indication that it will be renewed.

Anyway, I stepped off MAA soil for the final time, and was now on board 4R-ALB. Ayesha (so her name-badge said) greeted us with an Ayubowan and a smile on her face.

The flight: Boarding and entertainment

Flight: SriLankan Airlines UL122/ALK122
Date: Sunday, 2 April 2023
Route: Chennai (VOMM/MAA) to Colombo Bandaranaike (VCBI/CMB)
Aircraft: 4R-ALB, Airbus A330-200
Age: 23.4 years (built: 7 October 1999, delivered: 15 November 1999)
Seat: 54K
Boarding: 9:30am IST/SLST (UTC +5:30)
Departure: 10:10am IST/SLST
Arrival: 11:05am IST/SLST
Duration: 0 hours 55 minutes

Notes:
• First time ever on SriLankan Airlines and to Sri Lanka — my 6th country visited overall (including my home of India) — although a very brief stay. In early June, Indonesia will shortly become the seventh, with a quick jaunt to Denpasar/Bali (KL835) and a return via Jakarta (GA407/GA836).
• 4R-ALB is my first A330-200 flown and second A330 overall, after 9M-MTH, a Malaysia Airlines A330-300 flown in October 2022 as MH180. Second flight on a Oneworld airline, after MH180.
• One of the oldest aircraft ever flown. The record stands with VT-ESE, a now-scrapped 1993-built Air India A320 flown in December 2012 (AI765 MAA–CCU) and the very first aircraft when I started planespotting at the age of 12.
• Shortest international flight flown from India, though SIN–KUL is shorter.

I peeked into the business-class cabin, which, while not the most modern with its 2-2-2 layout, was certainly better than the old, rattling recliners with grainy screens you might expect from a 23-year-old plane. For their part, the A330-300s are kitted out with modern 1-2-1 reverse herringbone seats.

The bright turquoise colours of the seats stood out on the A330, making it clear that this was an airline from a tropical island.

As did the bird wallpaper on the rear bulkhead — woodpecker or hummingbird, I cannot say: I am far more adept at picking apart A330-200s from A330-300s than jays from thrushes.

Screens on the bulkhead played the moving map, as well as advertisements that are explained afterwards. I settled into 54K, and examined the contents of the seat pocket. SriLankan has followed most Asian airlines in scrapping its Serendib inflight magazine, unlike Indian carriers which persist with their magazines — and, as I found out some days back, Ethiopian Airlines, which has resurrected its Selamta magazine in print form (which I happily took home) despite reportedly ‘stopping publication for good’ in 2021.

It was here that 4R-ALB, the old dame, concealed her age and revealed a spring in her step. The refurbished IFE system was definitely one of the better ones I’ve seen in terms of design, all the more so for such an old plane: this is the Zodiac RAVE system — also found on the A321neo — that is used by airlines like Air France, SAS and Virgin Atlantic, which I rank among the best in the world for the consistent usage of their fonts. SriLankan, though, isn’t anywhere close to those Europeans, as instead of its corporate font the IFE system here uses a generic system font.

On the A330-300, though, you’ll find SriLankan’s logo in the top right corner along with its slogan, You’re our world, and a highly inconspicuous Oneworld logo that takes the form of a thin white circle. While I have never been fond of the alliance’s standard blue circle, this is one of the better renditions of the logo, and I wish it were used more often by other members. The best, however, would be a simple Oneworld wordmark without that ridiculous circle, as you will find on Qatar Airways’ online Google ads. (I think SkyTeam’s logo is the best, but if only its members’ typography matched up to this alliance with the worst logo but the best quality of airlines!)

There was a fairly decent catalogue of Hollywood movies and shows. The Indian movie selection was semi-decent in terms of Hindi and Tamil titles, though other Indian languages were lacking. What really entranced me, though, was a particular Tamil music album — but that was on the leg to Singapore, not this one.

The only issue, I suppose, was that the screen was covered in some sort of transparent screen-protector film that was showing signs of wear and tear, and that the glare didn’t make for especially great pictures. But these are minor quibbles, and on the whole this was a solid system.

Where Thai Airways’ IFE showcases its history and heritage through dedicated pages on the airline and country’s history, fleet, destinations, festivals, cuisine (with multiple recipes) and a handy city guide to many global destinations, you will find here instead a number of videos on the tropical isle and its flag carrier, a small but deserving member of Oneworld. Even better, it also has are a number of tourism magazines on Sri Lanka, and now is as good a time as any to visit, now that both the country’s political unrest of 2022 and the COVID-19 pandemic have more or less cooled off. Unfortunately, as I said, SriLankan’s Serendib magazine has discontinued publication, and neither is it available through the IFE.

This is I think a great way to showcasing your country’s tourism heritage: if TG did it through recipes and ingredients, UL does it through tourist magazines. This was completely missing on Malaysia Airlines, and honestly the 1999-built 4R-ALB is leaps and bounds ahead of the 2012-built 9M-MTH (which I flew in October 2022) in terms of IFE product. I will be sorry when Lima Bravo takes her final flight, as I have enjoyed both my flights on her. I do, however, want to fly UL again on its A330-300 to see how it compares.

Here is a glimpse into some of the articles in one of the tourism magazines, Explore Sri Lanka.

The IFE also, surprisingly, had a functional menu option, which I’ve never seen to work on any other airline except perhaps Emirates. On this short sector, SriLankan serves a hot refreshment: ‘homemade fresh calzones served with a beverage’. The clichéd and mostly false useage of ‘homemade’ aside, this is better than almost anything you’ll find on such a one-hour flight. For the record, my recent late-night Ethiopian KUL–SIN flight managed to serve only a wrapped cold sandwich and juice, but that’s still ahead of the measly cup of apple juice Singapore Airlines serves on that sector.

There were ads in the cabin (played during the moving map) saying ‘You now have the power to shape future inflight experiences!’, and one of those ways was through filling out a survey — which I bet not a single passenger cares for. Some of the questions were rather funny, like ‘Did you make use of the beverages offered from the bar?’ and ‘Inflight Duty Free: Did you get the product you requested?’, for which one of the options was ’No intention to buy’!

Departure: Last time from the ‘MAA-therland’

I opened Flightradar24 again and saw that 4R-ALH, UL’s Oneworld-liveried 2004-built A330-200, was active for the first time in ages — as seen through my Flightradar24 Silver history screen, which had nothing for the past 90 days — though she wouldn’t be in the air just yet. She is UL’s only A330-200 to carry a name: City of Yapahuwa.

Sri Lanka has a number of cities, but all international traffic is solely dependent on Colombo and its dilapidated Bandaranaike Airport — other than Indian state-owned Alliance Air’s flight from Chennai to the the northern tip of Jaffna — though there are domestic flights on seaplanes. This is much like in Nepal, where Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan Airport has long been the only gateway to the country, though Bhairahawa and Pokhara have now opened international airports (the latter of which, sadly, was the site of the Yeti Airlines disaster in January where everyone perished). As always, I digress.

Meanwhile, out the window stood VT-IJO, which had returned from Kuwait as 6E1242, now that A6-ENK had cleared from the scene.

Sinhala is now known for being a very mellifluous language — a reputation that my native tongue of Bengali has so far had in India — thanks in large part to the viral song Manike Mage Hithe, which gained popularity in September 2021, where singer Yohani lent her sweet voice and managed to single-handedly captivate millions of Indians. Now I would witness just how pretty this language was through the inflight announcements, which always began in Sinhala, followed by Tamil (which I can speak decently well, though can’t read a book in) and lastly English.

Equally pretty was the animated safety video, where UL has taken the trouble to add local charm and flavour to an otherwise generic briefing, starting (and ending) with a peacock — SriLankan’s logo — unfurling its feathers. Here, a young girl watches a plane taxi out the window, which leads to the main demonstration with its cute cartoon characters.

Among them are a couple of small kids, who get their own life vests and oxygen masks, as on any other airline — but only on SriLankan do you get this animation style.

At the end, all passengers are strapped and ready; the ground staff gives his thumbs-up and the plane lifts into a glorious sunset, with our peacock friend ending the proceedings.

We ourselves were ready to roll, and passed by the two 737 MAXes of Star Alliance members.

9V-MBA had a brief history with SilkAir before the 737 MAX groundings (well before it merged with the parent SQ), and while its first 737 MAX overall, she doesn’t hold the honour of being the first to be painted in SQ livery. That goes to 9V-MBN, further down the pecking order of aircraft deliveries.

Beside, ET-AVM had arrived barely an hour ago, and it would be nearly a day before her flight back to ADD. Little did I know that I would myself be flying Ethiopian in a little more than a month’s time: as I said, the weekend Kuala Lumpur trip was completely out of the blue and at short notice.

Soon enough, we left them and the building behind, minutes away from well and truly ending the biggest chapter of my life.

The flight information screen was interspersed with ads — including the one on shaping future experiences — but I didn’t mind them, unlike on MH. These pictures might not be great because of the glare, but I appreciate the level of detail here, with plenty of statistics.

Another compliment I have for SriLankan is that its ads occurring within the map are actually attractive and enticing, and in fact are an important avenue to showcase the airline’s services and product to people (especially first-time flyers from the country) who may not know of them otherwise. Some of the culinary creations on offer included King Coconut with Coconut Pulp and Curd with Waraka Compote, while some services like one for those moving abroad might not have been known if they weren’t advertised this way. Certainly not as irritating as on alliance partner Malaysia Airlines, where the A330-300’s older IFE, whose interface is already barely usable, is further inundated with ads for MHgiftcard, MHflypass and Journify.

My seatmate had already settled in to watch a Tamil movie, and continued to do so during takeoff.

We turned past a Blue Dart 757. This cargo airline and DHL partner, based in Chennai, is the only Indian operator of the ancient 757, and it’s unfortunate that Boeing will take decades to come up with a competitor to the A321(XLR). So much so that Icelandair was recently forced to deviate from its all-Boeing fleet — much of which is old 757s — and order the A321XLR.

In the distance were a number of parked SpiceJet aircraft, including one in the former Jet Airways livery. It’s a miracle that this struggling low-cost airline continues to stay afloat, all while Go First (which had negligible service to Chennai) has gone grounded this month, and Jet Airways’ comeback has been ruled out once and for all. SpiceJet has had multiple safety issues over the years, not to mention its brand and livery had never been consistent — unlike IndiGo, which is doggedly averse to special liveries — and I hope that it either shapes up or ships out.

Now, though, would be the most poignant moment of the flight. Much as I hate on MAA airport, I have nothing negative to say about the city of Chennai otherwise: as laidback as it is peaceful, blessed with a coastline and packed with culture. As 4R-ALB lifted her wheels at 10:10am, my decades-long relationship wth this lovely city — severely underrated and brought down only by its airport — came to an close. This was well and truly the end of an era.

It took several minutes to get over the wave of nostalgia that swept over me. Countless childhood memories — the Marina Beach, the houses and malls, the sights and sounds — all over in a flash.

Catering and service

The nostalgia done, I turned to some more of the tourist videos SriLankan had included. I didn’t open them; I was content with seeing the titles and descriptions, like one where SriLankan proudly advertised its service to Sydney and Melbourne. It is impressive that such a tiny carrier flies as far west as London and as far east as Sydney, and it is no doubt an exotic alternative to Oneworld co-founders Qantas Airways and British Airways, which charge a premium on the Kangaroo Route.

Tropical island countries have the best odds of having memorable cabin crew with the friendliest smiles, be it Garuda Indonesia, Fiji Airways or SriLankan Airlines. And, lest you forget, Singapore Airlines comes from a tropical island too — but it operates on a whole different plane (pun intended) from these.

Some more charming ads advertising SriLankan services, from holidays to excess baggage to brand advertising solutions, plus one calling to recruit pilots that I didn’t attach here.

Before very long, at 10:20am — just 10 minutes after takeoff — the snack was distributed: a hot calzone created with UL’s numerous vegetarian customers in mind. I’d say it was nice, but forgettable.

This was served along with Fontana orange juice, which seems to be a Greek brand, going by the usage of the word πορτοκάλι (portokali). How a juice from Greece made it to the coast of Sri Lanka is confounding. (And, by the way, I think Greek is the most lyrical and melodious language in the world — more than Sinhala or even Italian!)

Clad in their pretty turquoise sarees, the ladies serving my aisle were Hansanee and Thilini, and they worked along with Damith, the male cabin supervisor. Interestingly, one passenger tried to take a carton of orange juice as it was nearing completion, but the ladies firmly refused.

Having expected so much from SriLankan and the famed friendliness of its cabin crew, on par with the Garudas of the world, I felt that this crew was kind of also-ran and a bit unmemorable, like on Vistara. Perhaps because I made no effort to interact with them, maybe because I didn’t need to. In stark contrast, my Air India flight with its aging A319 could have been ordinary, but it was elevated by the fantastic catering and the above-and-beyond efforts by FAs Monali, Shilpi and Pinaz. Even on Ethiopian a week ago, I went the extra mile and praised the crew and airline so much that they happily agreed to a picture with me, also signing my journal. Probably I should be proactive with the crew the next time I fly on SriLankan, so as to extract all the charm and loveliness from them!

Now the A330 cruised down the coast of India’s southeastern Tamil Nadu state, of which Chennai is the capital, before it crossed the Palk Strait and Gulf of Mannar, entering Lankan territory. For the record, I don’t recollect there being a captain’s announcement for UL122, though it was definitely there for the subsequent UL308 leg on the same aircraft.

In my journal entry for this flight, I wrote: ‘Sorry, no A330-300 for you today. Here, have this old but refurbished A330-200 instead… before it leaves the fleet.’ Which won’t be long in happening, as sister-ship 4R-ALA has walked into a well-deserved retirement of her own.

Touchdown and transit

At 11am — Sri Lanka and India share the same +5:30 time zone — 4R-ALB commenced her descent over lush fields and forests.

Bandaranaike Airport soon came into view, and at 11:05am I officially landed in Sri Lanka for the first time, speeding past a row of military aircraft.

Soon the main terminal came into view, with an Antonov in the distance, plus Lankan low-cost startup FitsAir’s sole A320 (4R-EXR) to feature the full livery. Its other aircraft are all-white, and are yet to receive a proper painting.

We approached the terminal, past a company A330-300 (4R-ALR) which had landed as UL266 from Riyadh — heavily delayed, might I add, having landed at 9:30am instead of 6:15am. Like Colombo, Riyadh has its airport to the far north of the city, and plans to build another — which, with typical Saudi world-conquering ambition, wants to be the biggest in the world. Not that the kingdom doesn’t already have the world’s biggest airport, King Fahd Airport on the eastern coastal city of Dammam, which is bigger than the neighbouring island country of Bahrain!

Speaking of Bahrain, its national carrier Gulf Air had sent its A321LR, A9C-NE, to Bandaranaike, sporting a 70th anniversary sticker. That’s double the age of Emirates Airline, founded in 1985, which has grown to be a globe-striding behemoth in a way that GF simply couldn’t — not to worry, as GF has refocused itself as a premium boutique carrier, much like Etihad. In the distance stood 4R-ABO, an A320 and SriLankan’s other Oneworld-liveried aircraft besides 4R-ALH.

Now we got to know that our neighbour at the terminal would be from the sanction-ridden country of Russia, the world’s largest by area (and therefore a headache for many American, Asian and European airlines which must now steer clear of it). As the perpetrator of the war on Ukraine, its airlines have rightfully been cut off from most of the world, but the Middle East and South Asia remains fair game, and Russian tourists continue to flock to Colombo and Malé.

Azur Air (ZF) here has become one of the country’s largest holiday airlines with its all-Boeing fleet. (I normally refuse to use the term ‘charter airline’ here, as these holiday airlines can often be confused with ad-hoc operators like Titan Airways, but Azur’s Colombo flights were anything but scheduled, as they were operated only four times in all.)

We were treated to views of 4R-ALR, 4R-EXR and A9C-NE from another angle, as well as the old Antonov in the distance.

We pulled up next to Azur Air’s RA-73030, an old-as-the-hills 1991-built 767-300ER. That’s 31 years old, or, as far as I’m concerned, 93 human years!!! But that’s the norm for ZF, almost all of whose planes are similarly old and built before 1999, making 4R-ALB (which was built in that year) look rather young in front of them. She had flown in as ZF1647 from Novosibirsk (OVB) in Siberia — or ‘Tolmachevo’, as the information screens said — which is the home of fellow Oneworld member S7 Airlines, though it has suspended itself from the alliance indefinitely as it can’t afford to pay alliance-related dues. ZF1647 was operated sporadically: only three times in March, this being the only time in April, and never thereafter.

Unusually, this one carried a Russian registration long before the invasion, having entered service with Azur Air in 2018, unlike all other ZF aircraft, which had Bermudan VP-B**/VQ-B** registrations before the war forced them to be re-registered domestically. Previously she flew for two other Russian airlines, both of which went belly-up: first as EI-DBG for Transaero Airlines, which folded in 2015, and then as VP-BVI (a Bermudan registration) for fellow holiday airline VIM Airlines before that ceased operations as well.

Now the passengers scrambled to get up, in typical disorderly South Indian fashion, while the screen showed a thank-you message — which I’ve put as the cover of this report.

Now the cabin had been cleared, though it wouldn’t be long before I was back on 4R-ALB, in the same row (54) and also at a window seat — but on the opposite side.

As I stepped out, flight attendant Keshia bid me farewell, her hands folded in a namaskar. Her name, too, I had to speed-read from a badge. I would have liked to strike up a conversation with her, but even though I would be back on the same plane, that wasn’t necessarily true for the crew!

As I entered the lone terminal of BIA, I saw 4R-MRE, an older SriLankan’s A320, taxiing in the distance. This bird came from Mihin Lanka, a low-cost subsidiary that was merged with the parent in 2016, and therefore is UL’s only aircraft not to use the standard 4R-A** registration series.

On a similar note, news has broken that the all-A320ceo Thai Smile will be merged into the parent Thai Airways, which I see as a win-win as there were not many benefits offered by a separate airline. Thai Smile is one of only two ‘Star Alliance Connecting Partners’, along with China’s Juneyao Airlines, and I think that since this concept has been such a failure, it should be scrapped as well!