Grounded Mihin gropes to take off

The grounding of the hastily launched budget airline Mihin Lanka last month, with more than Rs. 3000 million in debt is apparently not the end of the road, as the carrier is now actively attempting to resume flights with a fresh infusion of cash from the Treasury.

The Sunday Times reliably learns that the Treasury has now called for a fresh business plan from the carrier to infuse more cash to it. According to informed aviation sources, instead of sending all its employees (more than 175) on no-pay leave pending the possible formulation of a proper rescue package, the carrier is now busy trying to recruit pilots, engineers and other relevant technical staff to fly two old aircraft that it plans to take on dry lease from a European firm.

The fledgling carrier is also said to be saddled with heavy overheads with some managers’ mobile phone bills alone coming to more than Rs.100,000 a month and all managers given company vehicles with drivers and fuel.

Sources warned that at a time when even established airlines like the national carrier SriLankan were finding it difficult to retain specialized staff like pilots and engineers, it was questionable why Mihin wanted to bring down two ageing aircraft from Europe without having recruited a single specialist personnel.

Mihin placed a quarter page advertisement in a State newspaper last week calling for experienced aircraft captains, first officers and maintenance engineers after having already negotiated to bring down two Airbus A-320 aircraft currently tarmacked at Chateaurouk-Delois, France.

“This is worse than the folly it committed in hastily importing two brand new buses and used ground handling equipment at a monthly lease rental of more than US $223,000. All the items are idling at the airport as the airport now provides easy access between aircraft and terminals by way of way-bridges,” an airline source said.

Mihin Lanka has informed the Government that the two aircraft under negotiation bear serial numbers MSN 87 and MSN 88 and had first flown on August 8, 1989 and November 21, 1989. They were initially owned by Royal Jordanian and later both had been sold to LTE Airlines of Spain on December 21, 2006 with new registrations bearing EC-KID and EC-KFM.

There is fear that by bringing in two ageing aircraft in violation of Civil Aviation Authority restriction on registering aircraft that are more than 15 years old, the country is risking its enviable safety record. The Civil Aviation Authority is already accused of turning a blind eye to several violations by Mihin, including it openly flouting the business plan originally filed with the CAA.

CAA Director General H.M.C. Nimalsiri had found fault with the present Head of Operations at Mihin, Athula Dissanayake, in April 2006 for performing irregular activities to help a foreign pilot to pass a reactivation course, when he was earlier the Manager Technical Flight Operations and Special Projects at SriLankan.

Earlier Mihin Lanka had operated flights with aircraft taken on wet lease at about US$ 900,000 a month, but now it is hoped to charter aircraft on dry lease at almost half the cost.

However, sources said even if recruitment of the required pilots and the engineers was done, there was so much to be done like having your own spares, preparing your own manuals to suit the aircraft and even having to put the pilots through simulator tests before they are allowed to fly the aircraft.