SriLankan Airlines incurred US$ 6 mn in losses due to flight delays

SriLankan Airlines has suffered a US$ 6 million loss due to recent delays of eight flights Minister of Ports and Aviation Nimal Siripala de Silva revealed yesterday.

A special discussion pertaining to the recent repeated SriLankan Airlines flight delays and cancellations was held on Monday chaired by Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva.

SriLankan Airlines management and all affiliated trade union representatives, at the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Aviation attended the meeting.

Issuing a statement, the Airline Pilots’ Guild of Sri Lanka noted that the passengers’ safety is the utmost priority for them and the reason of the flight delays was the technical issue in the planes. 

During the discussion, the representatives of the engineers’ trade unions stated that the recent flight delays were caused by the technical failures in several aircraft, however, the authorities of Sri Lankan Airlines have claimed that this situation arose as a result of certain trade union actions.

Following inquiries by the officials and trade union representatives, the Aviation Minister expressed that there are about 260 pilots for the 21 aircraft currently in operation with the airline and that accordingly, 12 pilots can be assigned per aircraft in rotation, and that this is in line with international standards

Furthermore, Minister de Silva, who highlighted that a flight officer must fly 100 hours per month according to international regulations, pointed out that in general, a SriLankan Airlines pilot has flown only around 60 hours per month as per the available data.

He also said that if one pilot of the airline flew at least 80 hours per month, such an issue would not have arisen.

Moreover, the minister also drew attention to the fact that there is an issue within the trade unions regarding their salaries and allowances.

However, the Aviation Minister said that SriLankan Airlines has to pay back loans amounting to a total of $1.2 billion as well as their interest.

The minister, however stressed to the trade union representatives that nevertheless, if the productivity of the airline is increased, certain payments can be made based on their productivity. (Bandula)