Airlines (Commonwealth Union_ SriLankan Airlines has bolstered its wide body capacity with an A330 that is wet-leased from Air Belgium. The jet will enter service in the coming days on its international routes to Dubai, Dhaka and Frankfurt.
On Christmas Day the Sri Lankan flag carrier made the announcement on its social media channels. The deal will see it wet lease in an Airbus A330-200 (registration: OE-LAC) from the Belgian carrier, which will add to its ten-strong A330 fleet.
According to data from Flightradar24, the two-class A330 which seats 22 in business and 240 in economy, has been operating flights on behalf of French carrier Corsair and Air Senegal in the last few months. It will now boost SriLankan’s long-haul capacity and is due to enter service on 29th December, flying to the likes of Dhaka, Dubai and Frankfurt.
About OE-LAC
The aircraft, a ten-year-old A330-200 was delivered to Air Belgium in November 2022 as part of a leasing deal with Altavair AirFinance. The plane previously flew under Etihad Airways for more than 5 years between 2014 and 2019, and spent almost two years in storage at Teruel Airport (TEV) over the pandemic.
The A330 powered by two Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines, was delivered to SriLankan’s base at Colombo (CMB) on 24th December, following a nine-and-a-half hour flight from Brussels (BRU). According to data from ch-aviation, it has completed over 30,275 flight hours as of 30th September, 2023.
SriLankan enjoys a long history with the A330-200 having initially flown the type way back in 1999. Its fleet of the -200 has subsequently been whittled down to just three (not including OE-LAC), with an average age approaching 20 years old. The airline’s wide-body fleet also consists of the A330-300, of which it operates seven with an average age of over 8.5 years old.
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Second plane in a week
Having been on the hunt since the summer, for additional narrow-body capacity in the A320, the carrier inducted another Airbus A320-200 on 21st December 21 taking it to six of this type and eight A320-family planes overall (it also has two A320neos).
The aircraft (registration: 4R-ABS) offers capacity for up to 150 passengers in a two-class configuration, 12 in business and 138 in economy. It will be primarily deployed on the carrier’s short-to-medium haul routes across the Indian subcontinent, Middle East and Far East, and will operate its first commercial service on December 29, the same day its wet-leased A330 will begin flying.
