Mihin Lanka lost Rs. 3 billion



By Kelum Bandara and Yohan Perera

The government owned budget airline Mihin Lanka has suffered a huge loss of three billion rupees for the year ending March 31 last year and 195 million rupees between October 31, 2006 and March 31, 2007, parliament was told yesterday.

Chief Government Whip Dinesh Gunawardena revealed these figures when responding to a question by UNP member Ravi Karunanayake and said the airline operated two aircraft obtained on dry and wet lease systems.

Mr. Gunawardena said the fixed monthly instalment for the aircraft on the wet lease aircraft was US$300,000 while that of the aircraft on the dry lease was US$21,500 and he pointed out that the rupee equivalent varied depending on the value of the rupee against the dollar.

The Minister said as of June 1, 2009 the airline had a staff of 156 and 118 of them drew a monthly salary of less than Rs.25,000 each while two other employees were paid between Rs.225,000 and Rs.250,000 and two others were paid more than Rs.250,000 each as monthly salaries.

He said the airline required a total of Rs.5.2 million monthly to pay the salaries to its workforce.

Mihin Lanka was grounded during April 30 last year and January 1 this year and the final audit for 2008-2009 was in progress.