Minister of Ports, Shipping and Aviation Nimal Siripala de Silva gave a six month ultimatum for SriLanka Airlines to ‘show progress or perish’ at a discussion with the SriLankan Administration and trade unions on the current progress of the airline at his office yesterday morning.
SriLankan Airlines was blamed and subject to extensive criticism due to its constant delays in operations from time to time. The delays annoyed passengers and inconvenienced them in the recent past. Subsequently, the Government decided to repay US$ 510 million out of US$ 1.2 billion in loans borrowed from several commercial banks and other institutions to enable the airline to continue its operations.
The decision was taken after a proposal made by President Ranil Wickremesinghe in his capacity as the Minister of Finance.
As the Government has provided a financial relief of US$510 million, (which is also most half of its debt) the progress of the operational and financial units of the Sri Lankan Airline should be shown within the next six months, the minister said.
Accordingly, it has been planned to start a restructuring program for SriLankan Airlines within the next six months with an attractive financial balance sheet.
Addressing the discussion the minister reiterated that unnecessary expenditure of the airline should be cut and better financial disciplines implemented in six months, and the company administration and trade unions should work in unison toward this effort.
Otherwise, he further said that the jobs of about 6,000 employees are uncertain. The company authorities revealed in the discussion that 16 aircraft are currently used in operations, thereby running six long-distance and 29 short-distance flights.
They stated that three aircraft from Belgium and another one from Fit Air have been obtained on a lease basis for these operations.
Ministry Secretary K.D.S. Ruwanchandra, SriLankan Airlines Chairman Ashok Pathirage, CEO, Richard Nuttall and several officials participated.
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