SriLankan can still be turned around - ceo Ratwatte

SriLankan Airlines can still be turned around and be run locally, provided the huge debt burden is cleared and the government implements the restricting plan.

In an interview with Daily News the CEO of SriLankan Suren Ratwatte said that in the last three months their revenue targets were met and there were operational profits.

“However these profits are being swallowed by the huge debt pay back which is keeping the airline in red.

It may be difficult for the government to clear this debt and the airline needs a partner to pump in money and work alongside with them,” Ratwatte said.

He said that they had presented a comprehensive restricting plan to the government but lamented that it was not being implemented.

“This plan is very practical and if and when it’s implemented the airline can ‘fly’ to a better financial position,”he said.

Commenting on the new ‘Neo narrow bodied’ aircraft he said that they give the national carrier a huge saving on fuel and was a good investment and the move to introduce the Australian flight to operate daily from October is turning out to be a very good move as they have a huge demand for it.

“We also see a demand from both student and other passengers as well as from the region who now has to fly longer to reach Australia.

With SriLankan their flight times and cost is very much less.”

To make this service more beneficial we have also adjusted some of our regional route timing giving the transit passenger an almost immediate connection.

In addition we have also increased new destinations to India and have added frequency to Mumbai to correspond to the timing of the Australian flight,”he said.

Ratwatte commenting on the global airlines said that airlines like Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Etihad, Cathy and several others are not making profits. “Even budget airlines like Air Asia is bleeding.” He attributed this to high operational costs and intense competition. “However in contrast European an US budget airlines are making profits but once again not on regional routes,”he added.