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MRIA incurring Rs. 100 Mn loss every month: Nimal Siripala
The Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) was incurring a monthly loss of Rs.100 million, Civil Aviation Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said today.
He told Parliament that the government would consider if a prospective investor is willing to invest on the MRIA.
The Minister said however, there has been a drop in the air traffic due to several reasons such as Covid pandemic and widespread protests in the country.
Minister Silva said Ratmalana and Palali airports have also not been fully utilised as planned.
"Not a single aircraft is landing at the Palali airport even though several airlines promised to operate their services to and from it. Air India also agreed to operate their services, but failed to keep its word. The project launched at the Ratmalana airport with a Maldives airline has been a failure," he said.
The Minister said SriLankan airlines has also recorded a loss of US$ 1.2 billion so far and that a Cabinet Paper has already been submitted to restructure it.
"49% shares will be leased out to a prospective investor," he said. The Minister revealed that SriLankan does not own any aircraft and that all the 23 aircraft in the fleet have been on lease.
"If the SriLankan airlines is not leased out, around 6,000 employees would face the risk of losing their jobs" he said. (Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera)
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