Ten parties eye SriLankan Airlines

Ten parties have shown interest to invest and manage the operations of SriLankan Airlines, State Enterprise Development Deputy Minister Eran Wickramaratne said.

The time stipulated for parties to express interest will close by the end of this month. They will be given time to submit proposals and by the end of this year the managers will be shortlisted and thereafter a partner will be selected to operate the airline.

The losses of the Airline has been halved as at end March this year, Wickramaratne said.

The government advertised this year calling for companies managing airlines to express interest in managing the national carrier which had been incurring huge losses during the past decade.

The airline which recorded a profit of Rs. 4.4 billion in 2008 incurred a whopping loss amounting to Rs. 107 billion since then. Its debt repayment amounts to around US$ 500 million. The government has embarked on a massive restructuring of the airline to make it a lucrative venture.

Renovation of the runway, looking at new partners, cutting down on non-profitable routes and focusing on lucrative ones, introducing cost cutting measures and expansion of the airport are some of the measures to be initiated under the restructuring program. With regard to restructuring the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation and the Ceylon Electricity Board which are reported to be incurring massive losses, he said he cannot comment on those entities but said steps would be taken to revamp all loss-making State entities.

Wickramaratne said he cannot comment on the Committee on Public Enterprise (COPE) report.

The report on investigations on nine state institutions conducted by the COPE was presented to parliament this month. The CEB, SriLankan Airlines, Rakna Lanka Security Firm, the Bank of Ceylon and Sri Jayewardenepura Hospital were subject to the investigation by the Committee.

- LF