oneworld

The CE of IAG has said he does not see any circumstance in which a hard Brexit would lead to flights being grounded. Willie Walsh said while he does not think anyone can predict what is going to happen with Brexit, IAG is relaxed about the situation. "It has to play out and it will play out," said Walsh. "I'm not going to predict what will happen politically. But I think from an aviation point of view without question there will be a comprehensive agreement." He also scotched suggestions that there could be a cap put on flights from the UK to the EU post-Brexit, because there is legal framework there that must be observed. "This is a time for people to be calm and ultimately we'll see this being resolved." Walsh added that it was up to politicians to act. "I can't find any country in the EU 27 or the UK who wants to see flights grounded," he said. <br/>

SriLankan Airlines is exploring options to sub-lease an Airbus A330-200 that has been sitting idle at Colombo' Bandaranaike International for over 3 months. The carrier states that the aircraft was acquired in 2017 as a condition of a settlement with AerCap over its cancellation of an agreement to lease 4 new A350-900s, under a deal cut by the airline's previous management team. It adds that the cabin configuration of the 2009-build aircraft "is unsuitable for the airline's present business model" and it was leased out to a European airline. The A330 has 288 economy class and 42 business class seats, while SriLankan's other A330-200s have 251 economy class and 18 business class seats. However, SriLankan says the European airline "violated the lease agreement”, and also failed to fulfil several of its lease return obligations. <br/>