Colombo: Sri Lanka’s cash-strapped national airline is in talks to lease four of its Airbus A330 planes to Pakistan International Airlines Corp, a government minister said on Thursday, months after cancelling an order for four Airbus A350 aircraft. State-owned SriLankan is aiming to reduce its debt and also looking for an international partner to help reverse years of losses. The airline, which has taken on seven Airbus A330-300s since 2012, has debts of around $3.25 billion.
“A team from the airline is in Pakistan for negotiations. We will lease one A330, latest next month, on wet lease,” Kabir Hashim, Minister of Public Enterprise Development, told reporters in Colombo. A wet lease refers to when one airline provides an aircraft, crew and maintenance to another.
Hashim also said SriLankan would lease three more A330s “in the next few months”, but did not discuss the type of lease.
