SriLankan Airlines

1 · POSITION

SriLankan Airlines places its flat bed on one aircraft type. The airline’s own page offers the highest levels of privacy and comfort on its A330 wide-body, and adds individual storage and extra knee room to the description. The same page states that this new Business Class is being progressively rolled out on more of its aircraft, and tells passengers to contact the closest ticket office to confirm whether a given flight carries it. The product is presented as a condition of the aeroplane rather than of the ticket. [1]

2 · WHAT THE CABIN HOLDS

The seat is accompanied by a Thales AVANT in-flight entertainment system with 15.4 inch screens, more than 50 television channels and 120 films. Business Class passengers are given an Aigner amenity kit; the page’s own caption lists Crabtree & Evelyn products, a dental set and ear plugs inside it. Mood lighting and night sky displays carry an asterisk on the same page, meaning selected aircraft only. On the ground the airline gives priority check-in at what it calls the silk route. [1]

3 · THE SEAT TURNED 1-2-1

Trade press dated the change the airline’s page does not. Executive Traveller reported that the A330-300 seat is based on the Cirrus seat and laid out in a 1-2-1 configuration, replacing an older 2-2-2 angled arrangement, with 180-degree lie-flat beds. The report tied the arrival to a single route, giving 28 October as the day the A330-300 took over the daily Melbourne service from the A330-200. A direct-aisle layout decides whether a passenger must climb past a neighbour to reach a bed. [4]

4 · TWO ROOMS AT COLOMBO

Two lounges serve the airline at Bandaranaike International Airport. Serendib is on the first floor of the departure hall overlooking the aircraft parking bay, with seating capacity for 80 persons and dining capacity for 20, an open kitchen, rest rooms with showers and 16 varieties of Ceylon tea. Serenediva is on Level 2, open for 24 hours, with five independent work stations and a Siddhalepa herbal spa offering a 15-minute massage. A refit reported in April 2011 put floor-to-ceiling viewing glass onto the apron. [2, 3]

5 · ⚑ CANDOUR

⚑ The flat bed belongs to the A330 fleet and only to the aircraft already converted; the airline itself says the roll-out continues, so a booking does not guarantee it. The claims about privacy and comfort are the airline’s own wording. The 1-2-1 layout and the Cirrus attribution come from trade press, not from the carrier. The 28 October switch was reported without a year that could be verified here, and the 2011 lounge account predates any later fit-out. [1–4]