Most people not in favour of selling SriLankan Airlines:Poll
While various reports emerge about the fate of SriLankan Airlines, a new, year-end Business Times poll with polling partner Second Curve has revealed that most Sri Lankans are still not in favour of an outright sale of the struggling, debt-ridden national carrier.
This is in contrast to a similar poll conducted in April 2016 where email respondents, representing largely middle and upper classes of society, were in favour of the Government exiting from the airline.
The latest poll revealed that 44 per cent of email respondents said “Yes” to the sale of SriLankan Airlines while 36.7 per cent said “No” and 19 per cent were “U (Undecided)”. The April 2016 email poll showed 78.6 per cent saying “No” to the Government managing and controlling the airline. The street response this time found 47 per cent against sale of the airline while 29 per cent said ‘Yes” and 24 per cent were “U”. This compares with the April 2016 street poll where 52 per cent said the Government should continue to manage and own the airline.
What is also interesting in the poll conducted last week in Colombo (email and on the street) and Galle (on the street), is that street respondents in Colombo were strongly opposed to the sale of the airline with a resounding 67 per cent “No” vote while Galle residents voted for the sale of the airline with a 45 per cent “Y” vote and only 28 per cent saying “No” (don’t sell). The overall percentage from Colombo/Galle streets was a 47 per cent “N” vote.
The polls in December 2017 and April 2016 reveal that the views on what should be done to the airline have changed and may be largely due to the many developments over the past 20 months where the airline has struggled through its operations, beset by accumulated losses.
The latest poll on various issues was conducted over the past two weeks with respondents being asked their expectations for 2018 and what they would like to see happening. Five questions were posed: (a) Trouble free elections in February; (b) Transparency and governance in the public sector; (c) Sale of SriLankan Airlines; (d) Continuing protests on the streets; and (e) Reduction in Government debt. The street poll in the two cities was conducted amongst 300 respondents by Second Curve (formerly RCB- Research Consultancy Bureau).
On the other four questions, the email and street polls showed more consistency and similar responses. To the question “Trouble free elections”, 93 per cent of email respondents said “Yes” while 60 per cent agreed from the street. On “Transparency and Governance”, 82 per cent (email) and 50 per cent (street) said ‘Yes”.
The response to “Continuing protests on the streets” was also not unexpected with 69 per cent (email) and 45 per cent (street) saying “No”. However here, 34 per cent said ‘Yes” and 21 per cent were “U” which would imply that a majority on the street are either in favour of continuing protests or unsure. On “Reducing Government debt”, 79 per cent (email) said “Yes” while 52 per cent (street) said “No”, implying that this is unlikely to happen or they don’t expect this to happen.
(Feizal)