{"id":161322,"date":"2016-04-26T13:31:08","date_gmt":"2016-04-26T08:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=161322"},"modified":"2016-04-26T13:50:25","modified_gmt":"2016-04-26T08:20:25","slug":"ranil-to-rescue-srilankan-airlines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-to-rescue-srilankan-airlines\/","title":{"rendered":"Ranil To Rescue SriLankan Airlines"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Prime Minister <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Ranil+Wickremesinghe&amp;x=9&amp;y=4\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Ranil Wickremesinghe<\/span><\/a> today announced that the government has decided to absorb the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=SriLankan+Airlines&amp;x=11&amp;y=5\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">SriLankan Airlines<\/span><\/a> debts amounting to a staggering US$ 3.2 billion, in a last ditch attempt to \u2018save\u2019 the country\u2019s national carrier.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-to-rescue-srilankan-airlines\/ranil-w-7\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-160567\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-160567\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Ranil-W-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"Ranil W\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Ranil-W-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Ranil-W.jpg 639w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>In an effort to save the carrier from further losses, Wickremesinghe has also ordered the airline to immediately cancel the order of four A350 aircrafts.<\/p>\n<p>Wickremesinghe also said that the government was looking to partner SriLankan with a foreign airline, similar to the deal struck between SriLankan and Emirates, during former President Chandrika Kumaratunga\u2019s period, in an effort to convert the airline into a profit making venture. The Cabinet has already given Wickremesinghe\u2019s proposal the greenlight.<\/p>\n<p>The decision to absorb the national carrier\u2019s debts comes when the government itself is already saddled with its own debts. In March, Wickremesinghe revealed in Parliament that his government was trapped in an almost <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/rajapaksa-sentenced-sri-lanka-into-a-10-trillion-debt-trap-pm-wickremesinghe\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Rs. 10 trillion debt<\/span><\/a>, mainly left by the previous administration.<\/p>\n<p>SriLankan which recorded a profit of Rs. 4.4 billion in 2008, took an appalling nosedive having suffered a whopping loss amounting to Rs. 107 billion, when the airline\u2019s administration was under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Nishantha+Wickramasinghe&amp;x=10&amp;y=4\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Nishantha Wickramasinghe<\/span><\/a>, the brother-in-law of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":149249,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-161322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-news","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - 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