SriLankan Airlines - Try, try try and fly

They say try, try and try and you will succeed, but for this near- 2- year old government success appears elusive.

The latest on the pot is the SriLankan Airlines saga. It seems that the decision makers haven’t ruled out other avenues to revamp the cash-strapped national carrier. This is mainly due to them being not too 'thrilled' about the three shortlisted bidders vying for a management stake in the national carrier, sources said.

The three shortlisted companies - Super Group Partners, Peace Air and Texas Pacific Group or TPG - is being analysed by a special committee appointed by the Cabinet, along with National Savings Bank (NSB) team which is the lead manager to this process under the aegis of the Ministry of Public Enterprises. From the current lot, the NSB’s recommendations will be on whether to go with one or two shortlisted candidates combined, it’s learnt.

“The ministry will put it to the special committee appointed by the Cabinet with a report by the NSB which will have the com- plete picture. But, it’s understood that the government isn’t entirely happy with these three parties,” a source told the Business Times.

The NSB was further checking the documents last Thursday, the source said, adding that they would present their report to this committee soon.

In the event the shortlist candidates fall below expectations, the Public Enterprises Ministry will explore ‘other avenues’, he added.

“By this they mean that the Request for Proposals (RFP) process will be closed. There was an idea to extend the RFP, but it’s not on the table anymore,” the source said.

The next step, he added is to approach airlines ‘directly’ on a ‘state level’. Apparently the West Asian carriers didn’t like the RFP process due to the ‘bad experience’ that Emirates, a one-time partner of Sri Lanka’s national carrier, had.

“If nothing works via the RFP, the government through the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Public Enterprises will approach individual airlines especially in the West Asian region,” the source said.