Sri Lanka's Minister for Ports, Shipping and Aviation Nimal Siripala de Silva has announced the sale of the national air carrier Sri Lankan Airlines and has stated it is open for auction from Thursday.
Speaking to Sri Lanka's Newswave, Nimal said investors have 45 days from then to submit their bids.
When the bidding period is over, they will pick whichever party that submits the best proposal, he said.
Sri Lankan Airlines was one of the companies that had been hit the worst following the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic crisis the country faced last year. The restructuring of the airline was carried out in the last eight months.
Sri Lankan Airlines has laid off nearly 6,000 people who worked for the airline as its finances are in dire straits.
The Sri Lankan government had entrusted the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) to prepare the airline's financial recovery plan and restructure the company.
The airlines had been previously entrusted to a foreign entity as well. Emirates operated Sri Lankan Airlines for a period of 10 years, from 1998 to 2008. Subsequently, the Sri Lankan government re-bought the stake it had sold to Emirates.
Sri Lanka's largest airline, Sri Lanka Airlines, has a debt of USD 1.2 billion. These include loans from the country's banks, international bond payments, and numbers to lease planes. Some of the expenses incurred on fuel have not been paid as well.
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