Drunken pilot delays UL 554: 15 hours

By Anurangi Singh

A drunken pilot's misbehavior resulted in the regular SriLankan Airlines flight from Frankfurt to Colombo being delayed by almost fifteen hours, with embarrassment and financial loss to the airline and huge inconvenience to passengers, the Sunday Observer learns.

Passengers on board UL 554 faced prolonged delays due to its Pilot being under the influence of liquor and was deemed unfit for duty, Sunday Observer learns according to Airline sources. The flight was about to leave Frankfurt, Germany, on the 19 August and scheduled to land at 05.40 yesterday morning. However, citing delays in Frankfurt, the flight's ETA was later changed to 19.50 hours yesterday.

A SriLankan Airlines press communiqué last afternoon apologized to its customers for the inconvenience caused and said that they would be compensated in compliance with EU regulations.

The reason that was given by SriLankan for this delay was 'unavailability of a flight crew member'.

An official of Airlines confirmed to Sunday Observer that the pilot been found to be intoxicated at the scheduled time of the flight and had to be suspended from piloting duty. Once he was removed from the plane, steps were taken to operate the aircraft with the pilot of the outgoing flight crew filling in for the pilot's function for the return flight to Colombo. The flight commenced its travel after a delay which lasted for nearly 15 hours.

"The airline expects the flight to depart at 0400 UTC today once Frankfurt airport reopens after the scheduled night time closure," stated the media communiqué.

The Airline source said that they would hold proper investigations into the incident and take disciplinary action accordingly.

Sri Lankan Airlines will be suspending its operations to Paris and Frankfurt by the end of this year.