Aviation consultants to chart SriLankan’s course
The government, looking out for a consultant to work out a plan to restructure national carrier, SriLankan Airlines will pick one out of the proposals scheduled to be submitted by December 20 by two shortlisted firms providing aviation consultancy services.
A Committee of Officials has proposed to obtain professional consultancy from a selected adviser as a result of which two out of a number of consultants have been shortlisted namely Accenture of the US and Nyras of the UK, sources told the Business Times on Monday.
It was noted that the Officials’ Committee had informed the airline of the need to carry out financial and operational restructuring with the rationalisation of some routes and revisiting of others that could be worked out on the basis of the numbers.
The airline has been asked to holistically review and obtain assistance of an outside party to facilitate and guide it in the operational restructuring and at the same time to also look for a strategic partner.
The first step of the plan would be an operational and financial restructuring of the airline for which the committee had called for proposals from consultancy firms out of which these two had been picked based on the technical proposals submitted by them about two weeks back.
A deadline of December 20 has been set for Accenture and Nyras to present detailed proposals on the way forward and the restructuring plan for the carrier.
Following this the plans would be studied by both the officials committee and the Ministerial Committee and based on their recommendations the Cabinet will select a consultant for the airline, sources said.
As advisers the consultants would be asked to look at the lease rentals and suggest the best lease agreements and the conditions and rates that should be considered. In addition, the airline has been told to find out how to renegotiate with lease rentals and also take up loan debt restructuring and arrive at a consensus on the rates, sources said.
Nyras a specialist in aviation consultancy had previously provided its services to SriLankan Airlines in 2016 when it was asked to carry out a strategic options review of the viability and opportunities for the carrier in order for the airline to deliver on a break- even profitability within two years.
Accenture PLC had also carried out a due diligence on the airline previously. The consultancy expert is considered a market leader in digital transformation and innovation and works with Amadeus that has a deep airlines process expertise in mass data managment across all functions and they work together to provide solutions to industry challenges. SriLankan Chairman Ajit Dias recently wrote to the staff saying the airline faces closure if “tangible and sustainable restructuring cannot be achieved”. In a stinging response, an alliance of unions at the national carrier said they had no confidence in the senior management including the chairman and CEO.
(Sunimalee)