Air Transport

Sri Lanka’s grounded state-owned low-cost carrier Mihin Lanka is still seeking to dry-lease Airbus A320 aircraft so it can resume operations.

Head of commercial Rohana Perera says the airline has yet to decide on a timeframe for resuming operations because the company is still trying to secure A320s on dry-lease.

Mihin Lanka wants to resume operations with one A320 and quickly add a second, says Perera, adding that negotiations with leasing companies are being handled by the country’s ministry of aviation.

For the moment the airline plans to continue with the low-cost business model but “there might be a few changes”, he says, without elaborating.

State-owned Mihin Lanka launched in April last year and had two leased Airbus A320-family aircraft.

It used these aircraft for services from its Colombo base to Singapore, Bangkok in Thailand, Dubai in the UAE, Male in the Maldives and Bodh Gaya, Trichi and Trivandrum in India.

The airline then returned one of the aircraft and later the other in April of this year, causing it to suspend all operations.

Source: flightglobal.com's sister premium news site Air Transport Intelligence news