ECONOMYNEXT –State-run SriLankan Airlines will request proposals to lease up to 11 aircraft whose lease contracts are expiring over the next year, Chairman Ashok Pathirage said.
“Cabinet has given up approval to replace these aircraft,” Pathirage told reporters. “We will call for RFPs (Requests For Proosals). Lease contracts of up to four aircraft are due to expire over the next year. “That would be our priority,” he said.
“The travel demand is increasing.If we wait longer the cost is going to go up,” he said. “We have to analyze carefully and see what is good for the airline and what is good for the country.”
Aircraft lease costs tumbled in the Coronavirus pandemic as airlines were grounded. Sri Lankan called proposals to lease up to 20 aircraft earlier in 2022 just as the country defaulted on its foreign debt and the parliament’s Committee on Public Enterprises questioned the move.