Political tinkering downs SriLankan aircraft
SriLankan Airlines has been experiencing a number of breakdowns lately and although passengers are apt to snap at airline staff on the ground the problems lie mostly in the political decisions taken in the past regarding the purchase of aircraft.
Some in the industry believe the issues do not lie with the staff but with the politicians that have been involved in making decisions against the purchase of the newer aircraft that were needed to re-fleet the airline.
Twice these decisions were made and as a result the airline is today faced with the consequences of having to ground part of it fleet due to technical faults.
It was also pointed out that there has been a large number of staff leaving the airline that includes pilots and engineering staff. This was a result of the opening up of vacancies in other airlines following the end of the COVID.
Industry sources pointed out that blaming the airline staff was not fair although that is the immediate reaction of passengers when they face a serious situation of their airline delaying their travel plans.
The airline had taken the necessary measures to overcome the situation and noted, in a statement, that they "needed to cancel several flights mainly due to a number of technical issues which required temporary grounding of aircraft".
It was also pointed out that these were "routine issues, and aircraft maintenance follows very strict procedures which necessitate repairs or replacement parts before the aircraft are cleared to fly".
Further the statement noted that it was unfortunate that in this instance "we suffered a number of groundings at the same time."
The airline had taken measures to accommodate passengers in hotels where necessary to which the Aviation Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva noted was a cost to the carrier.
However, industry persons note that this is not solely the fault of the airline but the bad decisions taken by politicians who had been involved in not approving the new aircraft required for the carrier.