Sri Lanka to privatise its national carrier

Colombo, August 29

Sri Lanka on Monday said it will privatise the country’s loss-making national carrier as the cash-strapped government “can no longer afford to inject money” into running it.

The government is looking to sell a 49 per cent stake each of the Sri Lankan Airlines’ catering and ground-handling units in efforts to restructure the state-run carrier, while 51 per cent will be retained under state hold, Aviation Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said. “This restructuring is essential as the government can no longer afford to inject money into running the airline,” he said. “Annually the government has been providing the airline between $80 billion to $200 billion to run its operations,” de Silva said. He said the revenue from the sale of the catering operation can be used to pay off debt.