ECONOMYNEXT – State-owned, loss-making SriLankan Airlines will recruit foreign pilots if the need arises, its Chief Executive Officer said, as the national carrier has suffered an exodus of pilots last year following an unprecedented economic crisis.
The COVID-19 pandemic, followed by an economic crisis, hit the airline hard as it was deprived of the usual near full capacity flights amid a sharp fall in tourist arrivals to the island nation.
Nearly 60 pilots have left SriLankan Airlines in the last 12 months and the national carrier has recruited a number of new cadet pilots to face the shortage, SriLankan officials said.
Richard Nuttall, SriLankan’s CEO said the airline has already got approval from the government to recruit foreign pilots, if required, to face the shortage.
“It’s approved, and the package is the same as local pilots except for an international standard housing,” he told EconomyNext on the sidelines of a media workshop on airlines.
“For us, we need 30 pilots this year, and maybe 50 pilots middle of next year…. There are plenty of pilots in Southeast Asia and Northern Europe. You get paid as much with us as you will working for an LCC carrier.”
Many pilots left SriLankan after the country declared a sovereign debt default last year, while some others left following the government’s decision to impose higher taxes across the board.
Industry experts say most of the pilots who resigned joined Gulf airlines, including Qatar and Emirates Airlines, which offer higher compensation.
“If you are a Gulf carrier, you need 500 or 1,000 pilots. You have to pay a lot of money for them. You can’t get away with it because you are subsidised and your average size of carrying is 400 passengers,” Nuttall said.
He said the pilot cost will not be affected by the number of passengers a flight carries though SriLankan pilots are “not paid badly”.
“Our pilots don’t get paid badly. They don’t get paid as much as they get in the Gulf. But if you get a salary here and if you live in Sri Lanka, you can live better in Sri Lanka than somewhere else, Nuttall said.
“It’s tight. It’s a concern and there maybe a time when we are really tight, maybe we will have to cancel one or two flights. But I think we will get there.”
President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s government has listed SriLankan Airlines to be privatised after continued losses since 2009.
It was managed by Emirates on a 10-year contract until 2007 before then-president Mahinda Rajapaksa stopped extending the deal after his entourage to London was not given seats in the aircraft on a London flight. (Colombo/September 13/2023)
I would be more interested to hear what Nuttall has to say.