Minister grants approval to fill vacancies at SriLankan’s Engineering Dept.

Minister of Ports, Shipping and Aviation Nimal Siripala De Silva has given approval for SriLankan Airlines to recruit personnel to fill 25 vacancies that have arisen at the airline's Engineering Department owing to staff members leaving for other countries. 

The minister gave approval to recruit the new personnel during a meeting of senior officials of the airline this week to discuss recent incidents that have occurred with the airline and measures to remedy the deficiencies, the ministry said in a statement. 

A group of officials representing the airline's top management, Engineering Department and the Civil Aviation Authority were among those present at the discussion. 

It was also revealed at the meeting that the SriLankan flight that recently had to turn back return to Katunayake while on its way to Dubai had done so due to a problem with the internal pressure of the aircraft. An investigation into that incident too is under way. 

Meanwhile, the airline's head of engineering had pointed out that there is a shortage of 25 personnel at the department owing to people going overseas for other jobs. Accordingly, the minister gave approval to recruit 25 essential personnel to the department. 

The minister further pointed out that the airline does not currently have a single aircraft and its entire fleet is made up of aircraft acquired on lease from different countries. Accordingly, arrangements should be made to acquire aircraft for the airline as soon as possible, he added. 

According to facts revealed at the discussion, a error in the computer system of the plane was the cause of the delay of the flight that was delayed for more than 30 hours in Melbourne, Australia recently. An internal investigation is being conducted over the incident. Since parts of the computer have also been sent to the manufacturing company, the report will be made public once the investigation is concluded, the ministry added.