SriLankan Airlines operates a sub-fleet of seven Airbus A330-300s for premium long-haul routes to London and Paris, equipped with the airline’s best inflight product. Of its Southeast Asian destinations, Singapore is the only route to consistently be flown by these flagship aircraft. As I’ve mentioned in my previous instalment, I was meant to fly from Colombo to Jakarta; however, due cancellations of my original flight, I was instead rerouted to Singapore. In any case, I was excited to check out the airline’s best Business Class hard product.

Check-in

I was dropped off from the Vivanta Colombo Airport Garden at Bandaranaike International Airport three hours before my 12.15 departure. Before entering the terminal, I first had to pass through a document check, as is common in the region. Thankfully, there wasn’t much of a line and I scuttled right through and soon found the Business Class check-in counters for SriLankan Airlines. I’ll also note that SriLankan Airlines Business Class passengers have access to Silk Route check-in lounge, a premium check-in area with an exclusive drop-off in an annex of the terminal. As I was dropped off at the main terminal, I didn’t bother using that service.

There wasn’t a queue at the Business Class line, which was a contrast to the crowded Economy Class check-in. As my passport details were already inputted from my previous flight, the process was a total breeze. Before long, my friendly agent had printed my boarding pass and lounge invation and tagged my bags, leaving me to clear immigration.

Lounge

Being the airline’s homebase and primary hub, Colombo Bandaranaike International Airport has two lounges for SriLankan’s premium customers. Business Class passengers are invited to use the solid Serendib Lounge located on the Departures Level of the terminal. Other passengers, including FlySmiLes and oneworld elite status members can use the smaller and much less pleasant Serenediva Lounge. I’ve reviewed both the Serendib Lounge and the Serendiva Lounge in previous instalments, which you can read here and here.

Boarding

Security at Bandaranaike International Airport is handled at each gate, much like the case at Singapore Changi Airport. After the checks, your boarding passes are scanned and you’re admitted into a holding pen area, where you technically are ‘boarded’. After my scare at The LaLiT Mumbai Airport, I refrained from taking pictures in the terminal, especially considering the prominent no-photography signs all over. Considering our full flight, all the seats in the holding pen were already occupied by this point. As such, I focused my attention out the windows, looking at the interesting Azur Air Boeing 767-300 parked nearby, instead.

Despite our printed boarding time of 11.30, pre-boarding for passengers requiring special assistance didn’t start until 20 minutes later. Interestingly, this pre-boarding privilege extends to Buddhist monks, in addition to the usual pregnant women, wheelchair passengers, and families with young children. Business Class passengers were invited to board six minutes after, alongside oneworld elite passengers. Taking us to Singapore today is 4R-ALP, an Airbus A330-300 delivered new to SriLankan Airlines in October 2015.

SriLankan A330-300 Cabin

Our flight today is operated by an Airbus A330-300, with 28 flatbed seats in Business Class and 269 seats in Economy Class. Unlike the older cabin used on the airline’s A330-200 aircraft, this configuration features direct-aisle access in Business Class.

Business Class

Business Class features 28 reverse herringbone seats, spread between Doors 1 and 2, totalling seven rows. Considering how premium-light Colombo is as a market, it is not surprising for the airline to have a relatively small Business Class cabins on their aircraft.

In Business Class, SriLankan uses seats based on the Zodiac Cirrus, the exact same kind find on China Eastern Airlines, Vietnam Airlines, Cathay Pacific, etc. While some airlines like Cathay Pacific has chosen to customise the seats, SriLankan’s version is completely off the rack. As such, there are no special additions to the seat, apart from the emerald green leather upholstery and light brown shells.

Considering the 1-2-1 configuration, every seat features direct aisle access and converts into a fully flat bed. Of course, that means that you wouldn’t have potentially jump over someone when getting out of your seat.

At the same time, I’ll note that you can’t really talk to your companion very easily in the centre seat. As such, I would go for a window seat regardless of whether I’m travelling solo or with someone.

Finally, I’ll add that the centre and front row window bulkhead seats feature slightly more space, owing to the larger footwells in these seats. As such, these seats might be better despite their close proximity to the lavatory and the galley.

Seat details

On this flight, I was seated at 1A, the bulkhead window seatmon the left-hand side. As you’d expected from my last flight, the seat is decked in brilliant emerald green leather, complemented by cream-coloured bedding with botanical patterns – a tribute to the island-nation’s abundant natural greenery.

To the side, you’ll find a control centre with buttons to control the seats, USB-A and universal power outlets, a reading light, as well as the entertainment remote control. Next to that is a protuding hook, on which the headphones are hung.

Next to the seat is the side table, from under which the tray table comes out. Although the table is collapsible, I was impressed by how sturdy it – making it suitable for both dining and as a workdesk.

Meanwhile, on the opposite side is the collapsable handrest, which acts as a secondary barrier for the seat and doubling as a privacy screen when it bedmode. However, it can only be extended inflight.

Right across the seat is a 15.4-inch LCD entertainment screen, featuring SriLankan’s entertainment system (more on that later). The touch-screen monitor pops out by pressing the button on the side. Under that, you’ll find a padded ottoman in a relatively spacious footwell, carving space under the side table of the seat in front.

In addition, a fixed literature pocket is built onto the shell of the seat in front, which annoyingly is the only enclosed storage in the seat. In any case, there is also a coat hook above that. At the very least, overhead airvents are installed on SriLankan’s A330-300s.

Departure from Colombo

As boarding went underway, lively opus filled the cabin with the airline’s familiar boarding melody. As I settled in my seat, I was welcomed by Kalani, the flight attendant who will be looking after my side of the aisle in Business Class. While boarding continued slowly, Kalani approached each passenger to offer a choice of pre-departure drinks. This involved a trio of Champagne, apple juice, or water, complemented by hot towels and the distribution of bottled water soon after. Champagne did you say? Joseph-Perrier Cuvée Royale? Don’t mind if I do! 😉

Boarding wrapped up abour half an hour later, at which time the entry doors were finally closed. We pushed back two minutes later at 12.28, prompting a lengthy automated safety announcement in English, Sinhala, and Tamil. This was followed by a screening of the airline’s amusing if not outdated safety video.

Taxi and takeoff

When we taxied to the runway, the captain came on the PA to announce our flight time of 3 hours and 25 minutes and a cruising altitude of 29,000 feet. As usual however, my eyes were glued to the window, noticing the peculiar Air Belgium Airbus A330 parked alongside those of SriLankan. As it turns out, the airline has been operating charters on behalf of the Sri Lankan flag-carrier. Huh, what do you know?

We reached Runway 04 at 12.40, 25 minutes after our scheduled departure time. As we powered down the runway, my eyes quickly noticed a duo of Antonov An-32s belonging to the Sri Lankan Air Force. How cool! That fascinating sight of such rare aircraft soon faded though, as were soon airborne, soaring up and pushing through the cloudy skies of Ceylon.

Entertainment

As I waited for the inflight service to start, I decided to take a deeper look at the entertainment system. While the LCD touchscreen monitor was very quick and intuitive, making the handheld remote unneccesary. In total, there was a selection of over 100 movies, including titles from Hollywood, Bollywood, East Asia and more. This included many recent releases, including the likes of Avatar: The Way of Water, Elvis, Black Adam, etc. Notably, this is a lot larger than the selection on my previous flight. You can browse the current selection on SriLankan Airlines’ dedicated entertainment website. A live camera feed from the nose of the aircraft is also available, which is quite nice.

A pair of SriLankan-branded noise-cancelling headphones were offered, which was was neither the best nor the most comfortable headphones out there. In the end, I decided to watch Don’t Worry Darling (2022) with my meal, before switching to the inflight map for the rest of the flight. Unfortunately, an inflight magazine wasn’t available, on top of the airline’s shopping catalogue.

Inflight service

Seven minutes after takeoff, the seatbelt signs were turned off, prompting the cabin crew to prepare for the lunch service. As the meal orders have been taken before takeoff, we were served an aperitif of our choice as we waited. For this I had the Old Reserve Arrack, which was served alongside cold but very fresh cashews.

For the meal itself, there was a choice of four mains, catering to various palates and dietary requirements. For reference, the following is the food and beverage menu on this flight.

Lunch

The meal was delivered by hand 13 minutes after the aperitif, with Kalani carefully setting each plate down on my tray table. Despite our daytime flight, I was surprised that everything was served all at once. Anyway, I chose the Sri Lankan option of Dunthel Rice, served with chicken mustard stew, lotus root curry, and tempered potatoes. The dish tasted fresh and spicy, and was an excellent inflight meal! A helping of Sri Lankan roti and garlic bread was offered soon after, which I gladly partook in. 😛

The main course is served with a side of Thai green papaya salad, which tasted nice and refreshing. I wouldn’t say I was as fond of the Paris-Brest dessert, however. The unpleasant cream of the filling and the artificial maraschino cherry topping it off surely didn’t complement the heavy curry-based main course.

For reference, the following is what the Mixed Seafood Soba Noodles looked like. Frankly, it looked a lot less appetising compared to the wonderful Dunthel Rice.

Post meal

After the meal, Kalani came back to distribute small bottles of water to each passenger. She also offered more drinks, throughout the flight, which I appreciated. I decided to get a glass of orange juice to counter the alcohol-rich arrack, before settling in with a cup of ‘Sunny Lemon Black Tea’.

Lavatory

After finishing my meal, I went to check out the lavatory before getting some rest. On the A330-300, Business Class has two lavatories, located in front of the cabin. Thanks to the curvature of the aircraft, the left-hand-side lavatory felt a bit cramped, despite being clean and tidy. Provided were toothbrushes and mouthwash, alongside moisturising lotion, eau de toilette, and aftershave from various local Sri Lankan brands.

Bedmode

The meals were wrapped with just over two hours remaining before our arrival. At this time, I decided to recline my seat into a bed to try to get some rest before my short overnight in Singapore. As with other reverse herringbone seats, the bed has a very slight angle when fully reclined, which wasn’t noticeable owing to the angle at which planes fly. Furthermore, thanks to my bulkhead seat, I found the footwell to be quite spacious.

As I’ve mentioned earlier in the review, both a substantial pillow and a modacrylic-woven blanket were provided at the seat. While this was nice for a short flight like this, I’d hope the airline provides something more substantial for longer flights.

Service

Much like my previous flight, the service on this flight was pleasant enough without being memorable. While Kalani was friendly and proactively offered drinks after the meal, the purser was less so and seemed quite disinterested the whole flight. Regardless, I had no complaints about the service and friendliness of the crew, I wouldn’t say the service is as industry leading as is the case at Singapore Airlines.

Arrival in Singapore

Around 30 minutes before landing, the captain announced our descent, prompting the cabin to be prepared for landing. The seatbelt signs had remained on as it has been for the last hour, thanks to the turbulence over the Bay of Bengal. Again, an automated safety announcement was played in English, Sinhala, and Tamil, to mark this phase of the flight. After the lengthy announcements, the crew played a promotional SriLankan Airlines video, pausing all other activities on the entertainment system.

We reached our final approach 20 minutes later, and sure enough, Singapore’s ship-laden coast appeared into view just in time for sunset.

We had a rough touchdown on Runway 02L, landing at 18.37 local time. As the purser welcomed us to Singapore, I had my eyes out the window, as we had arrived in time to see the evening Airbus A380 departures.

Before long, we arrived at our final parking position at a gate in Changi Airport Terminal 3. We ended up pulling up next to a behemoth Singapore Airlines Airbus A380-800, which I coincidentally flew from Singapore at the beginning of this trip. Talk about going full circle!

As the seatbelt signs were extinguished, I took my bags and waited for the doors to be opened. Soon enough, I thanked and bid farewell to the crew, and took one last look at the Airbus A330-300 that has flown us here. Immigration was a breeze (as always) and soon it was time to go to the Dusit Thani Laguna Singapore for my overnight layover!

Verdict

Based on the experience on both of my flights, I found SriLankan Airlines Business Class to be a solid and competitive product; this is especially true on the airline’s flagship Airbus A330-300. With an adequate lounge offering, comfortable seats, good food, decent entertainment, and friendly service, just about everything had fulfilled my expectations for the airline. While not industry leading by any means, the airline provides a good and relatively boutique experience to those travelling to Sri Lanka and the subcontinent. In all, I was quite pleased with SriLankan Airlines and wouldn’t think twice before booking flights on SriLankan Airlines in the future – especially if they were the cheapest option!

Read more from this trip here!