Rs.741 mn loss operating Mattala Airport

Srilankan Airlines had incurred a loss of Rs. 741 million within the period March 2013 to December last year due to its operations at Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport, Financial Accounting Manager at Srilankan Airlines Kasun Pathirana informed the PCOI.

Testifying before the Commission Pathirana said that between the years 2013 to 2018, it was only in 2016 the Mattala Airport had reported a surplus.

“The airport in Kat una yakew as temporarily closed from January to March 2016. Therefore many flights were diverted to Mattala, resulting in a surplus to the Mattala International Airport,” he said.

He informed the Srilankan Airlines Commission still continue to incur losses due to operations at Mattala Airport and a major component of these losses relates to the cost of staff employed for the ground handling and other flight operations at the airport.

Leading evidence, Senior State Counsel Chathura Gunathilake questioned as to what these employees do at the Mattala Airport, as Flydubai was the only airline operating at Mattala and it had also cancelled its flights last year and the diversion and landing of an aircraft at Mattala only takes place once in a blue moon.

Witness said that the Mattala Airport commenced its operations in 2013 with total assets valued at Rs. 251,354,043. He confirmed that most of these assets had been impaired due to their failure to generate revenue. He said that among the impaired assets was the Srilankan Airlines office building at the Mattala Airport.

The witness also confirmed that on March 18, 2013, Srilankan Airlines had operated a charter flight from Colombo to Mattala upon the request of the presidential secretariat. The charter flight had cost the presidential secretariat more than Rs.1.7 million.

Senior State Counsel questioned the witness “In that background, what is the purpose of Srilankan Airlines continuing operations at Mattala?” to which the witness replied, “that is a question that must be answered by the Senior Management of Srilankan.”