Struggling Carrier Loses Last Aircraft

The global industry added yet another carrier to the already long list of airlines no longer operating this past week. The Sri Lankan state-run budget carrier, Mihin Lanka, suspended operations indefinitely due to a lack of aircraft, officials said Sunday.

Agence-France Presse reports the airline, barely a year old, has been in financial trouble since starting operations in April 2007. Starting with a working capital of five million dollars, the airline had scheduled services to the cities of Trivandrum, Tiruchirapalli in India, Dubai, Male, Bangkok and Singapore.

Mihin's sole aircraft, an Airbus A321, was reclaimed at the end of April after the airline was unable to make payments to its Bulgarian owners.

"They (Mihin) don't have an aircraft to fly passengers since the beginning of this month," Sri Lanka's civil aviation chief, Parakrama Dissanayake told AFP. "Passengers booked to travel are now being transferred to other airlines until Mihin finds another aircraft."

Officials at the airline call center stated "all scheduled flights for May have been temporarily suspended for technical reasons" when asked about the status of the airline. One official at the airline said that they hoped to resume services in June.

No additional information was immediately available at the company website.

FMI: www.mihinlanka.com