State-run SriLankan Airlines has explained the need to lease replacement aircraft with leases of a number of aircraft running out in the near future, and newer used aircraft being 20 to 40 percent cheaper now compared to its existing fleet.
Leases of three aircraft had expired during the Covid pandemic and 09 others were due to expire from 2022 to 225.
Without a direction to shut down the airline from the major shareholder, the government, not replacing the aircraft without a specific direction to shut down the airline “such failure to act would have been a dereliction of duty on the part of the Board of Directors,” the airline said.
