A Sri Lankan Airlines Airbus A320 has suffered multiple system failures of key instruments during a flight from Colombo to Singapore, forcing an emergency landing in Medan, Indonesia, after declaring a mayday to air traffic controllers.
The Sri Lankan Airbus A320-200, carrying registration 4R-ABM, was performing flight UL306 from Colombo-Bandaranaike International Airport (CMB) to Singapore-Changi Airport (SIN) on June 5, 2025. The aircraft departed from Colombo at 20:25 for the routine four-hour flight to Singapore.
The incident, which is being declared as 'serious' by the Sri Lankan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), highlights poor maintenance procedures by the financially restricted airlines. The plane is reported to have been dispatched from Colombo with a faulty pitot heater, which is an anti-icing device required for specialist equipment that measures air speed.
The reporting on the incident comes as Sri Lankan Airlines declared an 8.4 billion LKR loss in the 2024/2025 financial year. With the loss of 8.4 billion LKR, accumulated losses went up to 615 billion LKR, compared to equity of 213.2 billion LKR, indicating a serious loss of capital.
Sri Lankan Taxpayers injected 9.8 billion rupees into the ailing airline. Another 20 billion LKR in taxpayer funds were allocated in the current government budget to keep it afloat.
The Flight
The aircraft was climbing through 34,000ft (10,363m) over the Indian Ocean and approaching Indonesian airspace when the issues began. The flight crew initially received a cockpit indication that the first officer’s anti-ice system had failed, along with a ‘Pitot Standby’ message. The failure of these instruments restricted accurate air speed data to the pilots, which could lead to a stalling of the plane. Despite this, the pilot decided to continue the flight path. However, further failures of the autopilot, auto thrust, and navigation systems forced a rapid descent.
Following this, emergency stall warnings and overspeed warnings were triggered. A stall recovery procedure was applied, yet the problem persisted, and the pilots declared a 'Mayday' call to air traffic controllers. The flight made an emergency landing at Medan's Kualamu International Airport.
Sri Lanka’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) reported the aircraft had been dispatched under Minimum Equipment List requirements with the first officer’s pitot heater inoperative.
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