Commercial Call

SriLankan Airlines has lost US$ 40 mn during the post tsunami period, and is expected to end the year with a US$ 10 mn loss as falling passenger revenues and rising fuel costs takes a toll on its balance sheet, a top official said Tuesday.







SriLankan Airlines has lost US$ 40 mn during the post tsunami period, and is expected to end the year with a US$ 10 mn loss as falling passenger revenues and rising fuel costs takes a toll on its balance sheet, a top official said Tuesday. The Dec. 26 tsunami which left over 30,000 people dead, blew a hole in the country's tourism plans, forcing SriLankan to scale back an ambitious programme of adding two aircrafts this year.

"We lost approximately US$ 40 mn after the tsunami due to cancellations, loss of revenue from flying in free aid cargo and waiving off our ground handling charges," the airlines Head of Corporate Communications Chandana de Silva said.

Besides galloping fuel costs, most of SriLankan's flights from Europe and Japan flew half empty, forcing the airline to scale back on some of its routes.

"Passenger revenues have dropped from London, Paris, Germany, Zurich and Japan.

For instance, soon after the tsunami, flights from Japan had only 15 to 30 passengers on some days," he exp