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Mr. Thushara Rodrigo, Director General of State Enterprises, revealed to the Parliamentary Committee on Public Accounts that SriLankan Airlines has used USD 63 million, collected from departing passengers as an embarkation levy, as its daily working capital instead of paying it to the Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) Limited.
Of the USD 60 tax levied on a passenger departing the island, USD 40 should go to the Consolidated Fund of the Treasury, USD 15 to Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) Limited, and the remaining USD 5 to the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau. However, SriLankan Airlines has defaulted on paying the USD 15 due to Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) Limited for the period up to December 2024, and steps have been taken to regularize these payments from 2025 onwards.
The outstanding amount accumulated before December 2024 is USD 63 million, which is approximately LKR 20 billion. Mr. Rodrigo pointed out that since both institutions are 100% state-owned enterprises, a suitable solution must be found for this issue. He also stated that SriLankan Airlines had retained the money collected from passengers for its daily cash operations.
Mr. Ravi Karunanayake, a member of the COPE Committee, questioned why such wrong precedents are allowed to continue in relation to state companies, stating that if a private company had committed such an act, its directors could have been arrested. Treasury officials fully agreed with this sentiment.
The government has currently appointed a committee to reorganize SriLankan Airlines, and discussions have been held with the Treasury Secretary regarding how to recover the outstanding amounts. In addition, the Treasury has taken over a USD 300 million loan from state banks and a USD 175 million bond, which will be settled with taxpayers' money.
The government has paid USD 60 million in cash for the USD 175 million Treasury-guaranteed bonds and related interest, with the remaining portion settled as 0.4% sovereign bonds subject to a 15% haircut. Of these bonds, 27.4% are due to be settled in April 2026, another 27.4% in 2027, and the remaining 45.2% in 2028.