Sri Lanka’s budget carrier in strife
COLOMBO – Sri Lanka’s state-run budget carrier has suspended operations for at least a month because of a lack of aircraft.
The budget airline, Mihin Lanka, has been in financial trouble since it began commercial operations last April.
“They (Mihin) don’t have an aircraft to fly passengers since the beginning of this month,” Sri Lanka’s civil aviation chief, Parakrama Dissanayake said.
Sri Lanka’s national carrier SriLankan Airlines is partly owned by Dubai’s Emirates but the two fell out earlier this year, which prompted the Sir Lanka government to launch Mihin Lanka with some fanfare.
Mihin’s last aircraft, an Airbus A321 taken on lease, was reclaimed by its Bulgarian owners at the end of April, as the airline was unable to make payments, according to airline sources.
“Passengers booked to travel are now being transferred to other airlines until Mihin finds another aircraft,” Dissanayake said.
The poorly-funded airline had scheduled services to the cities of Trivandrum, Tiruchirapalli in India, Dubai, Male, Bangkok and Singapore.
Officials at the airline’s call centre said they hoped to resume services in June.
“All schedule flights for May have been temporarily suspended for technical reasons. We may start in June,” an official said.
Ian Jarrett
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