Sri Lanka as a country runs the risk of being blacklisted by the International Civil Aviation Organization said Director General Civil Aviation Authority H.M.C.Nimalasiri in an exclusive interview with Colombo Telegraph.
DG Civil Aviation H.M.C. Nimalasiri
The Director General’s statement comes hot on the heals after ICAO’s regional office in Bangkok Thailand sent him a 42 page complaint made to them for an alleged series of flight violations committed by Mihin Lanka between 20th June 2015 and 3rd September 2015 and seeking explanation.
Mihin Lanka has been managed by SriLankan Airlines since 2015 since the yahapalanaya government led by President Maithripala Sirisena and Premier Ranil Wickramasinghe took office.
The document sent by ICAO’s regional officer Flight Safety Asia/Pacific Amal Hewawasam to the Director General Nimalasiri has now been forwarded by him to SriLankan Airlines Chairman Ajith Dias.
However the failure of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to investigate two serious safety related issues reported officially by Capt. Charles Sirimanne is what now has set the cat among the pigeons.
Captain Charles Sirimanne’s employment was terminated by Mihin Lanka on the 10th of September 2015.
The reason for his termination was where contractually either party could provide three months notice and end the contract.
Capt. Sirimanne was provided a letter by Mihin Lanka which stated that he is been paid three months wages and his employment ended with immediate effect. He subsequently filed a case in the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka for unlawful dismissal.
However what transpired thereafter is what has now got the ICAO, CAA of Sri Lanka and even the national carrier embroiled in a tango that is certainly going to expose the serious flaws of the CAA and the officials who run the affairs of the regulatory body.
In a sworn affidavit provided by Capt. Pujitha Jayakody in his submission to the Supreme Court, he went on to justify Capt.Sirimanne’s termination was due to acts of sabotage.
This reason was contrary to the letter of termination issued to Capt.Sirimanne by Mihin Lanka.
It is the same safety related incidents that Capt. Sirimanne reported to the CAA of Sri Lanka that has now been turned against him.
However documentary evidence seen by Colombo Telegraph reveals that the Civil Aviation of Sri Lanka failed to investigate these serious safety related incidents reported first by Capt.Sirimanne.
Subsequently it has come to light by ommission and or by commission that the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka has jeopardized the integrity of the country.
Since the 10th of September 2015 sufficient proof exists that it has violated the Air Navigation Regulation Act of Sri Lanka.
The Air Navigation Regulation of Sri Lanka number 208, (1) clearly states “No operator shall employ in Ceylon in any capacity in any aircraft operation licensed under this part a person who is not a citizen of Ceylon, except with the prior approval of the Director in writing. 208(2) Before approving the appointment of any person not being a citizen of Ceylon to act in any capacity in an aircraft operation licensed under the provisions of this part, the Director shall satisfy himself that no person who is a citizen of Ceylon with suitable qualifications is available for appointment.
In the termination letter provided to Capt. Sirmanne there is no mention of misconduct or any reason of incompetence that warranted his termination.
Director General Nimalasiri when asked as to why an inquiry was not held by the CAA into the safety violations reported earlier by Capt. Charles Sirimanne, he said “I wrote to the Chairman Ajith Dias and inquired as to why Capt. Sirimannewas terminated. Chairman Dias informed me that Capt. Sirimanne was terminated on disciplinary grounds. I chose not to pursue the issue as he was already terminated anyway and there was no point constituting an inquiry”.
If so, then the Chairman Ajith Dias has even contradicted himself in this instance, as it was under section 13 of Capt. Sirimanne’s letter of appointment that was was cited as the reason for his employment to have ended.
Capt. Sirimanne stated that he followed the proper protocol channels prior to sending his report to ICAO. “In an earlier incident seven co-pilots of Mihin Lanka wrote directly to the ICAO complaining about being verbally abused and harassed by their then chief pilot Themiya Abeywickrama of Mihin Lanka. However ICAO stated that instead of the complaint been forwarded directly to them it needed to be handed to their local regulatory body first. The letter was eventually diverted to Capt. Druvi Perera the Chief Operations Officer of SriLankan Airlines who was managing the operations of Mihin Lanka at that time” he said.
The seven Co-Pilots who reported this incident were then taken to task and harassed further.
Majority of those seven pilots resigned and joined other airlines due to the uncertainty of their careers.
Blaming the management of Sri Lankan Airlines the Director General went on to say “This entire fiasco between Capt. Pujitha Jayakody and Capt. Charles Sirimanne of Mihin Lanka was a personal grudge the former bore against his now terminated captain. When he was Mihin Lanka’s Manager Flight/Ground Safety Captain Sirimanne objected to a programme that Capt. Jayakody was trying to implement. This programme was where Mihin Lanka attempted to sell cadet pilot training programs to unqualified Indian (expatriate) flyers. This would have prevented the entry of future qualified Sri Lankan nationals from gaining entrance to Mihin Lanka. Moreover the scrapping of this pilot training programme was due to the newly introduced CAA requirement where at minimum a frozen Air Transport Pilot License (ATPL) to fly a Sri Lankan registered aircraft was made mandatory”.
Commenting further DG Nimalasiri went on to say “Capt. Sirimanne was right in his complaint which was violating all norms and the programme had to be terminated. Thereafter Capt. Sirimanne was removed as the Manager Flight/Ground Safety by Mihin Lanka even though his removal had to come through our office. The airline’s management should have handled this case better and nipped this in the bud then. It has now got blown out of proportion and has become an international issue. We could even be blacklisted by ICAO which is a far more serious issue”.
The petition pertaining to five flights operated by Mihin Lanka to Seychelles in 2015, was sent directly to ICAO and was confirmed by Capt. Sirimanne. This was done by Capt. Sirimanne after the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka had also been notified about this series of flights in writing initially, which the CAA of Sri Lanka chose to ignore.
“As I was left with no other option, I wrote to ICAO directly as the CAA was turning a blind eye to these serious lapses. Even Fly Dubai crashed recently killing all board due to a similar bad weather related issue. I have personally sent in many reports that warranted immediate investigations in the past, but the CAA always brushed it under the carpet. Everybody knows that and there is nothing anyone could do. This is Sri Lanka after all. We as a nation have been lucky to have averted many disasters in the past despite the several shortcomings of our very own regulatory body. The aircraft manufacturers have given us very good aircraft and our engineers have done a superb job over the years to ensure that they are maintained in very good condition. All I was interested in was to ensure that safety standards are met to the international standards that we are governed by. Is that too much to ask for? I had to now pay a heavy price even losing my job because of highlighting these issues. But that is fine. We are responsible for many lives when we fly them. That is what is most important. If this could be rectified at the cost of my job, then I don’t mind.” said Capt. Sirimanne.
Captain Lalith Wijetunga another Mihin Lanka pilot tendered his resignation in soon after the termination of Capt. Charles Sirimanne, as he no longer had faith in the safe operation of the airline.
Part of his lengthy letter of resignation in disgust states “The staff of any organisation need to be constantly updated on the changes taking place around them but even as Captains we were the last to know of such and that too from the media or through our valued passengers. Communication within the company had ceased to exist. Vengeance, that led to the illogical termination of Capt Charles Sirimanne showed us the lowest depths we finally fell into. It is heartening to note that some of his valuable suggestions in operating safer flights to Seychelles is today being implemented by UL.I too had authored many letters suggesting improvements and had lodged many complaints in the past through letters, voyage reports, ASR’s and MOR’s. A few bore fruit, though grudgingly and after much prodding. The exposure to the illegal and dangerous practice of overloading our aircraft by a corrupt few readily comes to mind. Such reports are of serious safety concern to an airline and would’ve bothered any responsible management but that too fell on deaf ears. It was indeed sad to note that even the former DFO and the CEO chose to ignore this serious threat to aviation, in terms of safety and the loss of much needed revenue for reasons best known to themselves.
These contents prove that despite having a qualified CRM specialist as the current CEO in Capt. Suren Ratwatte, the process is in absolute shambles.
The Director General Nimalasiri confirmed that the following three cases will be thoroughly investigated by the CAA at the conclusion of Colombo Telegraph’s interview with him.
- Five flights operated by Mihin Lanka MJ 707/8 CMB/SEY/CMB on the 20th June 2015, 25th August 2015, 29th August 2015, 1st September 2015 and 3rd September 2015.
- MJ 305/6 26th of February 2015 – Flight Delay by 30 minutes due offloading of large volumes of alcohol (Dangerous Goods) brought on board by passengers.
- Capt. Vinodh De Silva’s refusal to operate MJ 707/8 CMB/SEY/CMB due to the weather being below the required safety standards. However Capt. Pujitha Jayakody took the decision to operate the flight as the commander despite the flight being illegal to operate under the weather conditions.
Stated below are a few incidents that the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka swept under the carpet:
1. Capt. Druvi Perera (Sri Lankan Airlines) on landing into Chennai (India) the aircraft under his control skidded way off the runway damaging the runway lights. He continued to taxi to the parking bay. This was hushed up by the CAA of Sri Lanka. However subsequently he was promoted to the post of Chief Operations Officer. As the Chief Operations Officer he instructed the pilot training managers Capt. Ranga Amadoru and Capt. Patrick Fernando to reduce the pass mark in order to recruit two cadet pilots who had failed their exams. Both Capt. Amadoru and Capt. Fernando resigned from their posts as they refused to comply with Capt.Druvi Perera’s orders. This is highlighted in the Weliamuna/Jayaratne Board of Inquiry report.
2. Capt. Keminda Yahampath (Sri Lankan Airlines) – Burst several tires of the aircraft due to an unsafe landing into Trivandrum. What was more dangerous was that he taxied with burst tires to the parking bay. Miraculously a catastrophic situation was averted despite continuing to taxi on shredded tires and just on bare steel rims, where the slightest of friction could have had the aircraft in a ball of flames. He was subsequently promoted and currently is the Manager Flight /Ground Safety of SriLankan Airlines and also of Mihin Lanka since 21st May 2015. This was after the orchestrated removal of Capt.Sirimanne from the post. He was instrumental in providing an inaccurate proposal to gloss and facilitate the illegal operation to Seychelles when the weather is below safety requirements.He proved that he does not have the basic knowledge on this subject.
3. Capt. Anupama Pathirane (Sri Lankan Airlines) – He practiced an engine a failure during takeoff which is the most critical stage of any flight. Further he neglected to retract the landing gear and due to the subsequent drag, burnt more fuel and could not make it to his destination. He lied in his Air Safety Report report stating that there was a vibration and that he reduced the engine power and completed the required procedure to re-cycle the landing gear. The digital flight recorder proved otherwise. He was not terminated however the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka re-issued his flying license despite his incompetence and dishonesty.
4. Capt. Adrian Cramer (Mihin Lanka) – Took an unqualified ETOPS pilot on a two man cockpit operation to fly CMB/CGK/CMB (ETOPS Flight) violating laid down procedures. As a Designated Check Pilot himself (DCP) for the CAA. No record has been seen up to date or known if any action was taken against him.
5. Capt. Chinthaka Nilaweera (Sri Lankan Airlines) – Simulator Instructor plus Designated Check Pilot himself, took off from Colombo in the night when the runway lights was switched off due to a power failure.
6. Capt. Kosala Ekanayake (Sri Lankan Airlines) – Left a trainee cadet pilot all on her own in the cockpit and went to the toilet. The trainee cadet pilot detecting bad weather ahead on the radar left the cockpit in search of her Captain. The cockpit was unmanned and in an auto pilot mode for some time. The trainee pilot was previously cleared of her cover pilot requirement.
7. Capt. Gajendra Wagh (Mihin Lanka) – Was found fast asleep at the controls of his flight after the co-pilot Subki Lafir had to use the cockpit re-entry emergency override switch to gain access into to the flight deck. This was after the co-pilot Lafir had gone to the toilet and found himself locked out of the cockpit. Capt.Wagh was sacked immediately after this incident. In fact he was on a warning for a similar lapse recorded earlier. With no one to be blamed for this incident, the onus fell on co-pilot Subki Lafir who was reported to have been harassed to the point of him resigning. He joined a far eastern airline after it was he who brought the situation under control in flight.
8. Capt. Milinda Ratnayake (Sri Lankan Airlines – recently retired) landed the aircraft on a training flight in Colombo when the runway was not cleared. Despite the Air Traffic Controller permitting clearance for his approach and landing Capt.Ratnayake failed to do a go around on his visual approach. He landed the aircraft whilst a military carrier was still on the runway.
9. Capt. Wendell Kelaart (Sri Lankan Airlines – recently retired) was punished by Sri Lankan Airlines on the instructions of the CAA of Sri Lanka for an alleged low take off in London Heathrow (LHR). Capt. Kelaart was subsequently cleared by the UK AAIB authorities who flew in to Colombo on two occasions to complete their investigations. The initial alleged procedural violation was termed as a ‘serious incident’. However there was no recorded evidence of any violations found in the aircraft or on the ground in LHR by the Civil Aviation Authority in the United Kingdom. Capt. Kelaart was punished and designated to fly as an in flight relief pilot for one year. Eight months into his punishment for no wrongdoing he was eventually cleared by CAA of Sri Lanka and permitted to fly as a regular captain as the once termed ‘serious incident’ was downgraded to an ‘incident’. Capt. Kelaart was served a letter for his alleged procedural violation which did not exist at that time. However subsequently it was introduced and inserted into the Flight Operations Manual two days after the punishment was imposed. Despite being served several letters by both the airline and the CAA, Capt. Kelaart still remains to be officially cleared of this false charge. This issue created a further storm despite the safe take-off procedures been enforced by Capt. Kelaart, when the take-off calculation charts were not available in the cockpit. This is a fault of the airline which was subsequently corrected by CAA. Capt. Kelaart utilized a similar take-off chart used for a different airport which had a similar runway length for take –off and a much higher temperature. The day prior to this incident, Capt. Nanada Nadarajah carried out the identical procedure to depart from Ankara. However the CAA of or SriLankan Airlines did not find any fault with Capt.Nadarajah even though he documented it.
10. Capt. Charles Sirimanne (Mihin Lanka) – The CAA of Sri Lanka up to date has not held an investigation into the dismissal of one of their licensed holders. Four different reasons have been documented by Mihin Lanka as reasons for Capt. Charles termination. The first being where contractually either party could provide three months notice and end the contract. Strangely Capt. Pujitha Jayakody provided a sworn affidavit to the Supreme Court stating that Capt. Sirimanne was terminated for acts of sabotage. Ironically the acts as stated in his sworn affidavit was reported by Capt. Charles Sirimanne himself previously to the CAA of Sri Lanka. The CAA failed to investigate both cases. The CAA in the past had even selected Capt.Sirimanne to sit on their panel of evaluation of military pilots knowledge for issuance of civil license,(which is now implemented)and also do have a history of his credentials as a pilot and Manager Flight/Ground Safety. The CAA also has evidence of how Capt. Pujitha Jayakody was arrested and remanded in Singapore by the police for shoplifting whilst on duty. That particular flight was delayed where a new set of pilots had to be flown in to Singapore to bring back the aircraft and stranded passengers and cabin crew. The CAA of Sri Lanka does also know the credibility of Capt. Pujitha Jayakody and if his statement provided to the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka needs to be queried further. Capt. Jayakody has now provided information in his submitted affidavit to Supreme Court pertaining to safety related incidents that even the CAA of Sri Lanka is yet to investigate. As the sole regulatory authority the CAA of Sri Lanka has the power to conduct an investigation and clear Capt. Sirimanne to continue flying as a pilot, even if it means for another airline.
janaka / April 4, 2016
The third world shambles under Mahinda?
And if Peter Hill Emirates had allowed passengers to be removed and the fat Mahinda and his stooges to board would Sri Lankan and Mihin be in this mess?
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Captain Haddock / April 4, 2016
20th June 2015, 25th August 2015, 29th August 2015, 1st September 2015 and 3rd September 2015.
Mahinda on board ?
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harry hatton / April 4, 2016
The present board of directors took one and half years to declare that Air Lanka was in financial trouble. We could have told that to them in one week .
Now every few weeks we hear more bad news.
they are playing this out so that they can enjoy the perks for long as possible.
What a set of frauds .
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Kugan / April 4, 2016
It’s pathatic all dirty corrupt people’s affairs.it’s all messy police judiciary customs CEB CGR education health these doctors turning as politicians drugs pouring from air see ganja cultivation prosituation these paki drugs dealers roaming free it’s not only MahindaRaja this is the mind set of our people these yellow robes rowdies what happened to the ethonel containers got cought and how they released is there any honesty these thugs in parliament having liquor shops the list goes on
Where are the good leaders we shouldn’t have killed VP should have rehabilitate him and made him for whole sri lanka as a leader regardless of religion or language.
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Douglasd / April 4, 2016
With all the above “Safety” aspects recorded ( who knows how many of those are unrecorded) and swept under the carpet by the Authorities, both at Mihin and SriLankan, will any passenger who thinks of his/her life travel with these airlines? What a bunch of disgraceful people, right from the Board of Directors to Professionals manage these operations?
I directly blame the Civil Aviation Authority for not taking a very serious view on matters brought to their notice. What kind of a Professional to say: ” I inquired about the complaint from the Chairman and he confirmed the pilot involved has been dealt with. Therefore, I did not go into the matter any further”. This man must be taken to task first. Does he know what his functions are and why he is the man in charge of implementing the provisions of the Civil Aviation Act?.
It is another matter of concern why the Supreme Court has not done an “litmus” analysis of that “Affidavit” filed by Capt. Pujith Jayakody. The courts must invariably go into the contents of the “Sworn Affidavit” and verify the facts and also what action the Civil Aviation Authority has taken in regard to the complaint. If the FACTS stated in the “Sworn Affidavit” are proved to be wrong, he must be made criminally liable and punished accordingly by the courts.
OH….what a country we live in? Will, we able to ever correct these and “regain” our long lost prestige. I doubt it very much.
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Antany Peter / April 4, 2016
It doesn’t surprise to me. Incompetent, lazy and ignorance. This is how I define the workforce of Sri Lanka. They don’t have desire to work hard and get it right. This is my experience in Sri Lanka since May last year. Recently, I joined as a cost accountant for a well known hotel chain in Sri Lanka. It has started its business in Jaffna. However, the accountant was the most incompetent person I have come across in my life. He doesn’t follow any accounting standards. He just does it as he wants. I had to resign from the position to maintain my professional standards and ethics. I only managed to survive for two weeks. They don’t want to learn from others, but believe that one day their country will become like Singapore. In the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s Singaporeans built it from nothing. They appreciated anything and everything from the world. This kind of mindset Tamils and Sinhalese don’t have. I have applied three jobs with the Jaffna University. I was told that I left the country to live a better life, first preference will be given to the people who survived the war. Do they desire for skills and knowledge? First they want to feed their dark ideology, everything else comes second.
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Lanka Watch / April 4, 2016
Sri Lankans felt proud that AirCeylon/Airlanka/Srilankan airlines owned
by Sri Lankan Govt. at different times ,operated an accident free air service for a very considerable period of time and the credit goes to experienced pilots and mainly, to dedicated aircraft engineers, and maintenance staff who maintained the engines, running well, but its frightening to read about the near mishaps that could have happened, not once but many times due to faulty decisions of the pilots and their
carefree attitude not to report such incidents. Luckily, we escaped air/ground accidents. Worst part is that CAA of Sri Lanka and board of management of Airlanka/Srilankan slept on the reports or swept some of them under the carpet due to political intervention of the previous regime and not taken immediate remedial actions to correct the problems
when such lapses,were brought to their notice in writing,not realising
that the next such incident could have caused an aircraft crash with many lives lost.
The shocking revelations of above incidents, which could have caused
catastrophic disasters is now taken up seriously by ICAO (Intnl.Civil Aviation Org.) and there is a possibility that both national carriers
may get blacklisted and that will be the end of SL having a national
carrier.
Running a perfect CAA in SL and an airline, is foreign to SL and the Govt. must get off the high pedestal of knowing everything about civil
aviation and should engage a country who could restructure both CAA & the Airline. Emirates airlines is ideally suited to cope with both functions. The cause for all these evils is political interference and this should stop if projects like Sri Lankan are to prosper.
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justice / April 5, 2016
It appears that Sri Lankan Airlines and Mihin Lanka are accidents waiting to happen.
The pilots appear to have reckless disregard for universal safety procedures and precautions.
Lankans abroad and in Sri Lanka will avoid these carriers in future if they have read this.
Why are these sick ventures being allowed to lose millions daily when many citizens live below the poverty line.
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Lanka Watch / April 5, 2016
Justice – You said it right. It is just our luck that we ran an air service sans accidents all these years and as you said ,due to infighting among the pilots, & in flight operation division of the airline,they seem to be waiting for accidents to happen to pin point the mistakes of one another,not minding the reputation of the airline and the safety of the passengers they carry. To answer your question, why this sick venture is allowed to operate, losing heavily on a daily basis, the reason may be that the govt. thinks that Katunayake airport will be closed if Sri Lankan airline is closed and there will be no movement of passengers to and from Sri Lanka.
If the news about possible blacklisting of Sri Lankan/Mihinair by the
ICAO goes international, there is a possibility that the passenger
loads will drop on the national carriers, automatically and it will be too late if the govt.tries to restructure the airline with the help of another airline now. They should have done it one year back.
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The Aviator / April 5, 2016
SACK NIMALSIRI!!!!
SACK NIMALSIRI!!!!
SACK NIMALSIRI!!!!
and the two other stooges Paragraph Dissanayake and Susantha Silva if very are to survive this episode!!!!
These three are responsible for today’s state of Aviation in Sri Lanka!!!
SACK THEM ALL!!!
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Antany Peter / April 5, 2016
The problem is far beyond the Sri Lankan Airlines. The gimmick starts at school. Children learn to gimmick from their teachers. The majority of teachers don’t teach at school, they only teach at tuition centres. About twenty years children learn to gimmick, suddenly we can’t change them in months or in years to become genuine and hard working employees. Children learn to spend their time and money by running to tuitions. They don’t have time to learn sports or musical instruments. The majority of children don’t learn what is integrity from their teacher’s own life, second they don’t know how to manage time and money. So how can you find decent employees or employers? Therefore, the government must do something to stop this tuition madness. Jaffna is the worst, sadly Sinhalese are following it.
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Wera / April 5, 2016
Oh Dear where to begin. Looks like a mess no one would want to take on. Its quite funny how the incompetent always get promoted while the competent get shafted. Is this a Sri lankan illness? This is why most qualified Sri Lankans go abroad and never return. I think the safest thing to do would be to shut this mess down and start anew. Knowing the propensity of Sri Lankans to be crafty and deceiving maybe we should just give up the idea of having our own airline. You cannot be carfty and deceiving when it comes to aviation safety and compliance. If you do, this is what happens. No one who reads this would want to fly this airline. Why should they? Is there any point trying to carry on while wasting billions?
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charith jayaweere / April 5, 2016
mihin is runed by bloody robbers and useless retired consultants ,and it’s better if mihin and srilanken comes as one and send these useless people home,HR has no clue what she’s doing and if mihin comes under UL things might change as mihinlanka’s operational cost is less, CAA has taken ppl frm mihin to be employed in CAA with GCE O/L qualifications to fulfill mihinlanka’s benefits for MIS manike’s survival,witch they dnt understand even a plumber has a digree these days,All what I can say is May God bless mihin
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citizen / April 6, 2016
This is the tragedy of Mihin.It is no harm if the need arises to hire competent Consultants for a short period.However if these consultants are being employed for years over there is something radically wrong.Either they themselves are incompetent or the rest of the employees are really a dumb lot.
At the initial set up of Mihin most of the Senior cadre came from UL(retired) as mean of necessity and there were few who really had the credentials and helped to set out the airline operations in the areas of Finance/.Comercial/REvenue Management/Flight Opertions and Engineering.However after few years they for various reasons left on their own.
Middle level and JUnior cadre recruited consisted of ex UL staff(mostly who have opted for voluntary retirement packages)and others on the whims and fancies of then CEO.While the ex UL staff were mostly mediocre having not held much responsibilities at UL and the rest were simply novices most with no work experience at all let alone in Aviation.
With the departure of SEnior management staff these inexperienced lot were slotted into higher positions with the blessing of CEO.This is what has made Mihin for what it is today.
Head of Finance-This person was recruited by the founding CEO on the basis of his kinship and though a professionally qualified Accountant did not possess any outstanding qualities or capabilities to manage an Airline’s finances.Ably being assisted by a manger who was recruited on the basis of kinship to former Royal family
Head of Commercial-A former junior staff at UL was initially recruited as Sales Manager and then overnight was catapulted to the position when the incumbent decided to leave.Having no managerial experience whatsoever he has to depend on other juniors to manage his office.
Head of Ground Handling- The person recruited initially to head the Department was an efficient Ex- UL manager but with a penchant for power.AS a result she managed subsequently to take over Inflight services as well though she did not possess the necessary know how.Also with an excellent track record of bending double back to please every Boss that came along the way,she even managed to become a Consultant after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 60 and is believed to be advising on Corporate Communications of which she has no clue whatsoever.
Manager HR- Another ex UL officer(on voluntary retirement) who was attached to HR division was entrusted with managing the HR Department.With no managerial experience whatsoever she was found to be wanting in many areas.With a tendency of subjugation to others the only notable achievement of hers would have been the employment of her siblings at Inflight services.
Now with the quality of these SEnior Staff it should not be of any wonder why Mihin is in such dire straights now
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The Aviator / April 7, 2016
Ohi!!! Buggers with degrees are the biggest bloody crooks, what we need is HONEST people who know the subject and have no self interest…
Agreed that Gérard Mendis and Ingrid Guruge have no place in Mihin and only bleeding the airline, they are there to work for there own personal agenda’s, Merging the two Airlines is the biggest mistake the government is doing, if a private investor is willing to take over MJ why not. It is Sri Lankan unions that want to see Mihin closed or merged to avoid any competition.
The best option for the government is to close down Sri Lankan Airlines and absorb all the mettle into Mihin and re-hire the hardworking staff of Sri Lankan into Mihin and rebound the Airline.
This way the government is literally killing 2 birds with one stone, getting rid of the permanent employees at UL and getting the hard workers on contract as all other employees are at Mihin.
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wasantha / April 10, 2016
hoi yeahhh dear sucker! true! when you see these serious violations witch is done by above mentioned captns , yess I do agree getting in to CAA with O/L is much better that digrees ,these cptns still fly without any problems and ppl who has been following the procedure is been terminated,
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wasantha / April 10, 2016
yeahhh dear true! when you see these serious violations witch is done by above mentioned captns , yess I do agree getting in to CAA with O/L is much better that digrees ,these cptns still fly without any problems and ppl who has been following the procedure is been terminated,
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kannangara / April 5, 2016
charith yes I do agree with you.Even I heard mihin is taking retired people as consultants and I’m about to get retired hopefully applying for mihin air.
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wasanthe / April 5, 2016
MIHIN is ruining because of bad managment,they are playing this out so that the managment could enjoy, What a set of frauds .managers are not qualified and retired UL grandpa’s and grandma’s are brought to talk on behalf of them,employees are not happy and been penalised if things are being spoken,
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GobSmack / April 5, 2016
Nimalsiri [Edited out], only regulation he knows is biz 83!
Why is he there since 2000? No other DG has stayed there for more than 4 years, because [Edited out] in grand style. This bugger brings in ASN’s SI’s and god knows what else, has he ever even tried to amend the ANR which is the most important document for aviation in Sri Lanka?
Sirimanne did the correct thing and he was penalised, sad state of affairs. Its not only TA, that cow-dung Silva is far worse!
Q Why is PJ hell bent on SEZ flights?
A He needs to carry his 2000kg of pineapples.
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Rajash / April 6, 2016
I stopped flying Sri Lankan Airlines after Emirates were kicked out. Can’t risk life .
Thank god major disasters were averted on all the cases listed above
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Waruna / April 6, 2016
Congratulations on yet another super scoop CT ! No other media has an in depth knowledge to write on aviation but you dish it out with aplomb. Being an aviator myself I can assure all readers that this story is correct with no frills or decoration. Brilliant work
Like all other citizens of this country I too was swept away with that Yahapalanaya manthra. Don’t get me wrong, a change was needed badly as the former regime took the airline and the country to the cleaners and there’s no dispute there amongst the educated lot. But what did we get from the new bunch ? A sad lot bunch of politically connected morons to add to the smelly crap already left behind. Starting from the Chairman Ajith Dias who is an apparel man to the many fossilised directors in that board whose knowledge of aviation must be that of novices to the many useless Managers filling up space at ULs many offices and Mihins Cargo village office who spend time chatting or watching TV (cargo village) these guys are freeloaders that live on the nectar that the hardworking types bring in. Contrary to some who imagine that the Pilots are a reckless bunch of loonies, I can assure you that the majority of them (98% perhaps)
are absolute professionals. The MJ cabin crew are considered better in many areas but that again is subjective. The majority of them too work hard and are proud to be working for the local airlines. So don’t be misled by reports contrary to that by those who may now have sufficient knowledge here.
The bottom line here is that crooks and incompetent persons are handled with kids gloves by this govt too while the honest are kicked out or they get out. A huge loss for any airline and a country. Capt Charles became a target of the crooked and was terminated while the rest, including the Pilots Guild and the ‘good guys’ looked the other way through fear. The chairman and the directors chose to support the well know crook Pujitha Jayakody (should change that surname to one that would reflect on his many other disabilities). NOW IS THAT ?
Can’t the silly parliamentarian do us all a big favour by kicking out the chairman and his directors to start with ISO no confidence motions ?
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citizen / April 8, 2016
mihin employees are waiting for a managment change pooji,sampath,shannen,maleeza,rohana,HR,Ingrid ,Gerald,thriyama, maniq should leave
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ex Mihin staff / April 9, 2016
Leave ? they will never unless being SENT Home.Most of them are just Fossils and should be thankful for Sajin for having recruited/promoted them at Mihin.But I wonder how many of them would remember Sajin now or even want to acknowledge his Generosity.
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