COLOMBO, June 15 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's national airline, which has been suffering huge financial losses, said on Thursday said that its losses have begun to reduce.
The Sri lankan Airlines said that since the new government was formed in January 2015, the airline's losses have dramatically reduced.
The airline said a fuel price reduction in 2015 saw a drop in ticket prices that did not recover when fuel prices increased again. The effect of this, coupled with the acceptance of several new and expensive aircraft, a depreciation of the Sri Lankan rupee and other currencies against the U.S. dollar saw a weakening of the balance sheet of the airline.
It also said that a re-surfacing project of the runway at Sri Lanka's main international airport also forced the national carrier to cancel over 600 flights, equivalent to two entire weeks of scheduled services, in the first three months of 2017.
"These factors combined to worsen the performance of what could have been a successful financial year in 2016/17," the airline said.
The airline expressed confidence that its financial recovery will continue and the positive trend will be further improved.
