SriLankan Airlines, the national carrier of Sri Lanka, is to double its existing capacity, or risk facing bottlenecks in servicing the incoming five million tourist arrivals by 2030, Pilot and philanthropist Captain Elmo Jayawardene said at Sri Lanka’s first-ever Aviation Forum, last week.
“We have 24 aeroplanes to cater to 2.5 million. So in 2030, we need double that figure when it goes to 5 million,” Jayawardene said, referring to the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority’s (SLTDA) target figure of five million arrivals in 2030.
“So we need to have another 25 new aeroplanes added to the fleet to bring these tourists, plus the other airlines coming in. The point is, 25 new aeroplanes means 150 crews, which means 150 captains and 150 co-pilots, that’s a very big number,” he conceded.
Sri Lanka continues to have a Selective Default rating with S&P Global Ratings, due to its defaulted $ 175 million SriLankan Airlines bond. Earlier in August, the airline announced an unsuccessful conclusion to its restricted discussions with key bondholders regarding the restructuring of the airline’s defaulted $ 175 million guaranteed bonds.
Treasury Deputy Secretary Ananda Seneviratne, attending a Committee of Public Finance (CoPF) meeting in May explained that the government at present is dealing with two debts accrued by the SriLankan.
“There are two debts for SriLankan. One is the debt in the state bank – which we are restructuring with budget proposals, similar to the treatment we have applied to the CPCs (Ceylon Petroleum Corporation) debt, which means that it is to be settled within five years,” he said.
“The $ 175 million in ISB guarantor loans is also in the process of being restructured – which has not yet been finalised,” he concluded.
Jayawardene, speaking to Aviation sector professionals continued: “The problem is today, I spoke to a very senior training person in SriLankan Airlines. He told me, unfortunately, we train 10 pilots a year. How do you take care of the 150 pilots we need in five years, when we are doing 10 a year? We will only end up with 50.”
Referring to the SLTDA Chairperson, he added: “To fulfill the vision Mr. Hewawasam has, the airline has to find a way to train pilots, not to say there is a bottleneck. We’ve got to train pilots, and the engineers to get those pilots up in the sky. We have to sit down and work this out, and this has to be done with the civil aviation authorities, airports and then SriLankan Airlines.”
Jayawadena further explained that if the discussion and plans were to be done in silos, the target may not be reached.
“If these three people are talking to themselves behind closed doors, forget it. I’m sorry to say this to the Chairman of the tourist board, your vision is fine, but you’ve got to have the teams to work together to get that position.”
“The fact remains that SriLankan only trains 10 pilots a year – that is the biggest hurdle we are going to jump, if we are going to get more tourists coming here, carried by SriLankan airlines.”
Speaking on the need for high-speed taxiways within airports to counter congestion from the expected increase in incoming volume of flights, Jayawadena said: “We know that 2.5 million people are coming through the airport. Five million will be coming through the Bandaranaike airport in 2030. We have an airport which has a good runway, but it does not have high-speed taxiways.”
“When a captain comes to land, he leaves the runway to go to the apron. If it is a 90-degree turn, he has to turn that at less than 10 Knots. But if you have a high-speed taxiway, he can turn between 50-60 Knots, which means a quick exit out of the runway.”
Referring to the London Gatwick airport, the UK’s second-largest airport which recorded 701 total aircraft movements per day in 2024, Jayawardena said: “If you go to Gatwick, they do 30 flights an hour, two minutes to get in and get out. It doesn’t take billions to get simple taxiways. Suppose we have these five million tourists coming in, where do we park?”
Jayawadena suggested moving the Katunayake Airforce base, which is situated roughly six kilometres away from the Bandaranaike International Airport, to the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport.
“Move the Katunayake Airforce base to Mattala. Please think about it. Then we have an international airport that would have had about one or two airplanes in the last ten years. What kind of airport is that?” (The Morning)
