Govt pumps USD201mn to keep SriLankan, Mihin flying until October

Apr 26, 2016 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s government has decided to pump 201 million US dollars to restructure and keep the operations of state-owned SriLankan Airlines and Mihin Lanka flying until October this year. Speaking at a special press briefing Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the cabinet has also approved a 70 million US dollars worth government-backed loan facility in this regard. “We are left with only two alternatives. One is to close down the Airline and other is to provide government funds to keep it,” Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said.

“We didn’t think about the alternative to close down.

Instead we allocate funds to keep the operations until October.” The cabinet has also decided to continue the operations of SriLankan Airlines after October as a partnership with an investor or international airline. The applications for choosing the prospective partner will be called in the near future and the partner company will be responsible with managing operations of the Airline. The government will soon select an advisory firm to start hunting for a suitable partner for Sri Lanka’s national carrier. Wickremesinghe further revealed that they have already instructed to cancel four of its new A350 aircraft orders.

State-owned SriLankan Airlines currently has a debt burden of 3.252 billion US dollars.