The Premier also explained to the House that the Government was faced with no choice but to go ahead with the purchase of four Airbus A350-900 aircraft for SriLankan Airlines, because reneging on the order made by the previous Government would result in Sri Lanka having to pay USD 1.5 million each in demurrages. The Government would have to follow through on the purchases, even though the national carrier was making huge losses, Wickremesinghe explained.

“A350-900 purchase agreements were signed by the previous regime, which lead the company to make a loss. SriLankan was a politically driven company. In 2012 the net loss was Rs.17 billion. It has gone up to Rs.26 billion in 2013. In 2014 the loss was Rs.31 billion. With the oil prices coming down the net loss for 2015 came down to Rs.16 billion,” he told Parliament. Wickremesinghe said the four airbus aircraft will have to be obtained at the full purchased price, with the remaining four being bought on lease, despite the national carrier’s losses. “There was no feasibility study done by the previous Government. They must have expected people to line up in airports to fly in these new aircrafts. Now the FCID is investigating the purchases,” he said.

“They (the previous government) had agreed to buy four A350-900 planes and lease another four,” he said. “We have not paid a deposit, but if we default we have to pay a penalty of $12 million.” “We are stuck. We have to review the deal and take a decision if we are going ahead with the purchase or not.”