Turning around national carrier pie in the sky?

Nothing pleases me more than being greeted with Ayubowan by the smiling face of a beauty clad in a bright blue saree, every time I board a SriLankan Airlines Airbus to fly to Sri Lanka, which I was forced to leave during the second JVP uprising during which people were executed for doing their duty.

- BY DR UPUL WIJAYAWARDHNA

Perhaps, SriLankan may outlast me as Iam already in the departure lounge of my life! The million-dollar question is how long. Though my fervent wish is for SriLankan Airlines to flourish as a global carrier with repute, a potential it once had, omens predict otherwise. Some of the best who worked for the predecessors of SriLankan have ventured out to build very successful airlines. Successive governments have been grappling with the question as to what could be done to the loss-making carrier; ditch it or continue to fly for prestige?

One of the key decisions of the NPP government was to let SriLankan continue as a state venture. For the Marxist-orientated JVP, perhaps, any input from the private sector is an anathema although most successful airlines are private sector entities. Many countries that had state-owned carriers have opted for privatisation for reasons of economy, only countries with vast wealth to buy aircraft outright being able to maintain state airlines. Emirates Airlines, owned by a super-rich Gulf state, which started in 1985 with only two aircraft on wet-lease from Pakistan International Airlines, is a giant in aviation today. So is Qatar Airways, which started operations only in 1994 and is owned by another super-rich Gulf state. On the other hand, the UK handed over British Airways to the private sector a long time ago and India handed over Air India back to the original owners, the Tata Group in 2021. Despite the setback of the recent downing of the 787 Dreamliner, Air India is bound to prosper as the modernisation of the fleet goes on at an unbelievably rapid pace. In early 2023, Air India ordered 250 new jets from Airbus and 220 from Boeing, the largest order in modern times. The Airbus order was increased by another 100 in December 2024. This order exceeds the total fleet strength of Emirates and Qatar combined!