Sri Lanka Aviation Services Ministry will conduct an investigation into the Sri Lankan Airline’s action to take over A330-200 aircraft on lease which is "not suitable" for the airline's current business model.
This air craft was brought to the country by the previous management of the Sri Lankan Airline amidst protest of the Aircraft Engineers' Association,
The national carrier is paying US$ 585,000 monthly as the leasing payment of this aircraft which is now at the Katunayake Airport hanger lying idle.
This was revealed at meeting between Minister Prasanna Ranatunge and representatives of Aircraft Engineers' Association.
"The cabin configuration of this aircraft, which was manufactured in 2009, is not suitable for SriLankan Airlines’ operations, having many seats and minimum space between seats in its Business Class cabin.
The aircraft remains at the airport as part of the Sri Lankan fleet, although it is not in use due to the above-mentioned reasons," the airline officials said.
They also confirmed it is currently using the Airbus wide body for spares and it has removed one of its Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines to use it for one of the active A330-200s.
The aircraft in question was added by SriLankan Airlines in 2017 as a part of a settlement with AerCap against the cancellation of the order of four new A350-900s.
It was previously operated by Hi Fly .Following the 2017 transaction, the aircraft was never actually taken up by Sri Lankan Airlines and continued to be operated by the Portuguese ACMI/charter specialist through September 27, 2018.
(LI)