Sri Lankan, is it really?

Ample notice given on President's travel plans:

by Panchamee Hewavissenti

"SriLankan Airlines had been given sufficient prior notice to facilitate President Mahinda Rajapaksa's return from London to Colombo on December 13, before the budget," a high ranking official of the Presidential Secretariat said.

He rejected all statements with no clear evidence to prove the request for seats out of London was made on the due day of the flight itself. He further said that President Rajapaksa's travel arrangements were notified to SriLankan Airlines 13 days ahead - on November 30.

Since all the seats from London had been reserved , SriLankan Airlines had informed early that they would be unable to accommodate the Presidential delegation.

The official further declared that he spoke to Senior Manager (Government Travel) Amith Wijayasuriya of SriLankan Airlines regarding the President's delegation and requested that space be allocated on a suitable flight departing London on December 13. The request was followed up by an e-mail.

On the same day, November 30, Wijayasuriya had replied that there are two available flights - UL 506 and UL 502.

The UL 506 flight had been selected by this official on the same day.

On December 4, the Presidential Secretary had sent another e - mail to Wijayasuriya, requesting him to provide him (the secretary) with information about flights available on December 13/12 and 14/12, both direct from London or via Male.

A verbal response to the above mail was received on December 4, that the delegation has been provided with two flights.

Then, SriLankan was informed that the delegation would take UL 506. On December 5, another request was made to SriLankan about the possibility of them taking the UL 502 flight on December 13 and confirmation about the UL 502 flight was sought.

Wijayasuriya replied to this e - mail that both flights were fully reserved and that they would be unable to provide any seats, suggesting that they have made available some seats on an Emirates flight departing from London Gatwick to Dubai.

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Facts on Mihin Lanka operating to Europe

Chief Executive Officer of Mihin Lanka, Sajin De Vass Gunawardena denied recent media reports on his budget airline's operations to Europe.

The following is the official response from the Mihin Lanka CEO:

"A midweek newspaper has reported that due to SriLankan Airlines rejecting to provide any seats for the President, it provided a chance for Mihin Lanka to fly to Europe for the first time.

"Let it be reminded to the Editor of this newspaper that the Editor of another newspaper of the same group travelled on Mihin Lanka to Rome this year as a Member of the Presidential Delegation.

The irony is that this editor himself was on board with the President, and not only enjoyed the flight and revelled in the hospitality, but was seen chatting with the President, praising Mihin Lanka for its achievements.

"Therefore, it is not the first time that Mihin Lanka has flown a Presidential entourage to Europe, but is the second . As patriotic citizens of this country, we are proud to take the President of Sri Lanka on board Mihin Lanka.

"Let us also remind the Editor that we have not only taken the President, the father of the nation, to Europe, but also to India, Maldives, Uganda, Iran, Japan, Rome and England. We don't take pride in refusing seats for the President of our country.

Why? because we are a true Sri Lankan Government-owned airline established for the people of Sri Lanka." We have a reasonable doubt whether there was a conspiracy to stop the President from arriving in Sri Lanka before the budget.

The purpose of delaying the President's arrival in Sri Lanka was to sabotage the President's vision during the budget and to build a state of uncertainty about the government among members of the government and government supporters.

"The soul aim of the desperate Opposition party members is to create an unpleasant situation for the president on his arrival in Sri Lanka.

It is reported that they had prepared to launch an agitation campaign for the President to resign from his position on his arrival in Sri Lanka if the government were unable to win the budget. This leads us to think whether there was a conspiracy to delay the President's arrival?

"However, the President was able to arrive in the island before the crucial budget, by a flight specially sent to London by Mihin Airlines."

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Emirates sells off two A340 aircraft owned by SriLankan Airlines

Two A340 aircraft, for which the lease payments were fully completed, instead of becoming a liability became assets last month. However, in a shocking move, Emirates management decided to sell the two aircraft and release them back to SriLankan Airlines.

Isn't this sabotage and wilful mismanagement? What is better for Sri Lankan Airlines? To operate its own aircraft or pay millions of dollars for leased aircraft? The reason given was that "Cash Flow" funds were required. If this be the case, do we require a foreign investor to manage the company? Cannot Sri Lankan Airlines start selling its assets and keep contributing to the cash flow?

It is pertinent to note that ten years ago when the national carrier, Air Lanka was privatised, Air Lanka owned ten (10) aircraft. Today Sri Lankan Airlines owns no aircraft at all.

When Air Lanka was privatised ten years ago, at the time of privatisation, Air Lanka had around US$ 180 million as dollar reserve deposits, today there are no reserves at all. Ten years ago, at the time of privatization, Air Lanka was operating to more than 36 destinations direct.

Today, this has been reduced to 15 destinations. If the Government of Sri Lanka does not take any action to rectify these, and pull back the National Airline by March 30, 2008, all that will be left is an airline without key staff and air-craft.

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28 pilots to leave SriLankan Airlines next month?

It is reliably understood that 28 pilots have decided to leave the employment of the National Carrier, SriLankan Airlines in January 2008, owing to disagreements they are having with the management.

It is no secret that qualified and experienced pilots are hard to come by, with increased use of aircraft globally.

The Government of Sri Lanka must take a firm stand on this issue and engage these pilots in a negotiation so as to address their grievances and restrain them from leaving SriLankan.

An aviation expert commented that once we lose all good and experienced pilots to other airlines, it would be difficult to find technical crew.

Is it that the Emirates Management wants to ground the SriLankan Airlines operations and or arm-twisting, pending the negotiations between Emirates and the Government of Sri Lanka in respect of the extension of the Management Contract enjoyed by Emirates.