SriLankan Airlines could incur a first quarter loss of Rs 50bn

Colombo (News1st): Politicians in the country and those who hold power can deceive the people in many ways possible, but when it comes to the actual numbers, they do not lie. following are the statistics of the profits and losses incurred by our national carrier from 2009 until 2019. Also in the same graph are the values of the world fuel prices. When observed carefully we can see that even when the value of the world fuel prices was extremely high SriLankan Airlines had managed to control its losses to a certain level. Experts note that by the end of the first quarter of this year losses incurred by SriLankan Airlines would amount to about Rs. 40 Billion with a possibility of hitting the Rs 50 billion mark. It should be noted that this is at a time when the fuel prices in the world have decreased. If it actually reaches Rs. 50 Billion, it will be the highest loss incurred by the national carrier for the past 10 years. With changes in government, several individuals who came to power tried to "restructure" the national carrier. Also, various reports were published by these people. Between 2012 and 2017 a report was made to take a look at restructuring at the national carrier. It is a known fact that passengers feel comfortable in a young fleet of the carrier. This particular report similarly restructured the fleet and made suggestions with regard to the replacements that need to be done. The suggestion was to switch to A350 aircraft so that the passengers would feel comfortable and confident in flying with the carrier. However, these reports were not properly analyzed nor were necessary steps, suggested by this report, taken. The question is, Why spend state funds on Expert reports which the Government never uses or takes into consideration when making decisions? What is the point of wasting public money? Is the government trying to shut down the national carrier of our country?