SriLankan Airlines records Rs 35.6 billion loss
Update, November 12: Budget speech cites accumulated losses
In the 2027 Budget speech, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said SriLankan Airlines had accumulated Rs. 528 billion in losses and continued to impose a burden on the Treasury. Published reporting report the figure. It is an accumulated-loss statement in the Budget debate, not a replacement figure for the Rs. 35.6 billion loss in the earlier period-specific report retained below.
Published reporting indicates the President linking the accumulated losses to the end of the Emirates partnership in 2008 and accusing the former administration of ending it over a personal dispute. That explanation and the claimed causal link are the President's allegations. This report has not independently established that one decision accounts for every rupee of the later losses, and the speech is not a judicial finding against a named individual.
The published report says a special committee has been appointed to examine the airline's losses and possible solutions, with its report to be presented to Parliament. The President questioned whether the Treasury could continue to bear the cost. Neither report establishes that a sale, closure, new investor agreement or final restructuring plan has already been approved.
The new Budget statement and the earlier fiscal-report account use different measures and reporting horizons. They should not be added together as separate new losses. The original article, publication date and photograph remain below as a historical record; this update states the newer claim and its limits.
SriLankan Airlines recorded a pre-tax loss of Rs 35.6 billion in the first half of the 2026/27 financial year, according to the Finance Ministry's mid-year fiscal position report. Middle East war tensions, rising global fuel prices and a long-term financial crisis are cited as the causes.
Although the airline's revenue rose to Rs 82.8 billion during the period, expenditure climbed 40.4 per cent to reach Rs 95.2 billion. The report identifies a 93 per cent surge in aviation fuel costs as the main reason. Foreign exchange pressures have further strained its finances, and the government has had to intervene to meet funding needs.
