Airline News
SriLankan cuts losses and appoints new CEO
September 18th 2015
State-owned SriLankan Airlines has curbed its losses on the back of lower fuel prices and is trying to consolidate its position without expanding into new routes, the carrier’s chairman, Ajith Dias, said last week, adding a turnaround plan has been approved by cabinet, which may be made public soon. Read More » In the last financial year, ended April 30, SriLankan lost 4.9 billion rupees ($35 million), according to Treasury data, adding to accumulated losses during previous years exceeding 130 billion rupees. SriLankan was not in talks for a foreign partner, Dias said, but it would like to engage in more code-sharing partnerships.
Fellow state-owned carrier, Mihin Lanka, will not be merged with SriLankan as previously suggested. Speaking to Lanka Business Online, Dias said while the loss-making LCC is being managed alongside SriLankan, it would remain a separate entity. “We are running Mihin as a separate company and managing it. They are paying for that (management) as it is not free,” he said. “We are not trying to merge the two companies because one is different to the other. Also, some of the routes that SriLankan is flying have been given to Mihin Lanka.” Mihin has accumulated $113 million in losses since 2010.
SriLankan has appointed Suren Ratwatte, a pilot who had flown for the airline in the 1980s before joining Emirates Airline where he flew up 18,000 flying hours on aircraft including the B777 and the A380. Ratwatte was most recently human factors manager at Emirates. He holds a master's degree from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University and is a fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.
