Ayubowan! and Welcome to Trip Report 1 my very first published Trip Report from way back in 2014,Flying on Sri Lankan Airlines Airbus A340-300 from Colombo-Bandaranaike International Airport (VCBI/CMB) to Chennai Anna International Airport (VOMM/MAA).
CMB-MAA (9th September 2014) SriLankan Airlines/UL121/Airbus A340-300
Watch the entire Trip Report below:
Trip Report 1
Having being asked to arrange a travel itinerary, this being for a visit to Chennai was something new to me back in the day, with zero experience was a challenge accepted!
With a choice of many airlines operating to and from Chennai in 2014, my aim was not only get the lowest airfare available but more importantly to make a good impression at home and therefore be given the responsibility yet again to organize outbound travel for the fam.
Air India Express, Kingfisher, JetLite and Sri Lankan offered attractive prices to Chennai from Colombo, however flying direct was never something I liked, the more layovers the better!
Knowing that SriLankan Airlines was to begin its retirement process of its ageing Airbus A340-300 fleet and having flown in them just twice before, I decided to fly the quad engine Airbus for one last time.
My outbound flight booked, my next aim was to get us back to Colombo with my choice of airline being an LCC: Spice Jet, this meant that I could take their daily Boeing 737-800 back to CMB from MAA, however I had other plans, which got me a few extra hours to spend in MAA. This meant that I had to fly a domestic sector to Madurai (IXM) and connect to Colombo on Spice Jet's Bombardier Dash8 Q-400
which was yet another first on this trip.
All in all, my itinerary cost much less than having to fly direct and the savings was much appreciated.
Here's my Itinerary
The 9th of September dawned and we were on our way to Colombo-Bandaranaike International Airport (CMB), checking in online and clearing immigration with ease and headed to the departure concourse for a bit of spotting
Right - FlyDubai Boeing 737-800 (A6-FDN) which crashed on approach to Rostov Airport (Russia) in March 2016
Right/Rear- SriLankan Airlines Airbus A340-300 (4R-ADA) the first operated Airbus A340-300 in South Asia (now scrapped)
SriLankan Airlines Airbus A340-300 (4R-ADF) now operating for the Malta based Charter company AIR X Charter as (9H-BIG)
Jet Airways Boeing 737-800 ready for departure to Mumbai
4R-ADC in from Kuwait (KWI)
Korean Air Airbus A330-300 en-route to Seoul (ICN) via. Male (MLE)
Onboard
Boarding was announced and it was time to Board 4R-ADC to MAA.
The rain on the other hand played spoilsport which affected my cameras focusing abilities
The Crew were polite and professional even though they had just flown in from Kuwait, each passenger was given a cup of water on boarding ADC.
Departure was as scheduled, no delays this time around. The A340 showing its age with plenty of vibrations emerging from the overhead screens,baggage storage compartments as well as the unoccupied seats.
Cabin/Seat ADC wasn't in the best of condition with worn out seats and scratched windows and outdated IFE which didn't seem to work which didn't prove to be much of a bother for such a short flight. The seats though were in a 2-4-2 Configuration and I was lucky enough to manage a bulkhead seat in row 50
The Meal in this case breakfast was way above expectations, comprising of a traditional SriLankan Breakfast: Milk Rice (Kiri-bath) with Potato Curry and Seeni-Sambol (an onion mixture of sorts)
Was unable to get a picture of the meal, however its a part of the Trip Report Video link Seems like SriLankan has up'ed their service standards, which was a really good sign. Breakfast arrived hot and tasty but the quantity wasn't enough though, but that was alright.
Descent into MAA
Touchdown was hard, but nevertheless a good flight on ADC, pretty sad that they are out of service now.
The next carrier i'd fly on: Spice Jet's Boeing 737-800 ready for departure
Saying goodbye to 4R-ADC. You've served us well.
