Sri Lanka Airline Pilots Fleeing Country Like Doctors: Minister
Sri Lanka has seen a spate of specialist doctors leaving the country following an economic crisis
COLOMBO – Pilots of state-run SriLankan Airline are leaving the country just as doctors are leaving the country for higher salaries, Aviation Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said.
SriLankan Airline does not have extra pilots to put on standby in case pilots assigned for a flight is indisposed, he said.
“They get the training from us, get our flying hours and they leave for higher salaries,” Minister de Silva told parliament.
“They are just like doctors.”
Sri Lanka has seen a spate of specialist doctors leaving the country following an economic crisis triggered by the central bank to printing large volumes of money to artificially keep down a centrally planned interest rate structure..
The 2022 currency crisis is the worst in the history of the island’s Latin America style central bank set up in 1950, abolishing a consisted fixed exchange rate without a policy rate.
There have been calls to tighten laws to build an East Asian style central bank with laws to limit open market operations, and stabilize the exchange rate, but there is strong support for monetary instability among the country’s economists.
Minister de Silva was responding to questions after a flight to Korea was cancelled due to a pilot falling sick.
There were 20 pilots on their off days, but no one came forward to fill the vacancy, as they had done in the past, Minister de Silva said.
“We do not have pilots to leave on standby,” he said.
Legislator Dayasiri Jayatilleke said there was work to rule style trade union activity due to demands by staff not being given by the management.
Minister de Silva said there are some problems between the airline’s management and trade unions. – EconomyNext
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