🇱🇰 SriLankan Airlines ✈️: The Real Story Behind the Numbers

🇱🇰 SriLankan Airlines ✈️: The Real Story Behind the Numbers

⭕️In FY 2024/25, SriLankan Airlines Group reported a Rs 2.7 B loss, compared to a Rs 7.9 B profit in FY 2023/24.

⭕️ At first glance, that looks like a sharp downturn — but the real reason lies in foreign-exchange movements, not core performance.

⭕️ In FY 2023/24, the rupee appreciated from Rs 330 → Rs 300 per USD - a 9 % strengthening.

⭕️ That alone created a massive Rs 26.7 B exchange gain, since the airline’s foreign-currency loans appeared smaller in rupee terms.

⭕️ In FY 2024/25, the rupee moved only slightly — Rs 300 → Rs 296 (≈ 1.3 %).

Result: the FX gain plunged to Rs 3.9 B.

⭕️ When you strip out the currency effect:

FY 2023/24 → Operational loss Rs 18.8 B (before FX)
FY 2024/25 → Operational loss Rs 6.7 B (before FX)

⭕️ The Rs 7.9 B “profit” from last year was largely a paper gain from currency revaluation, not stronger airline operations.

From last years to this year:

• Revenue ↓ 10.8% → Rs 303 B (from Rs 339.6 B)

• Operating Expenditure ↓ 11.7% → Rs 276.3 B (from Rs 313 B)

• Passenger Revenue ↓ 15% → Rs 234.5 B

• Total Assets ↓ 6.1% → Rs 189.2 B (from Rs 201.6 B)

• Equity remains negative –Rs 379.5 B (slightly better than –Rs 381.7 B)

⭕ ⭕ All figures are reported in LKR, but most revenue and debt are in USD — making the results heavily influenced by exchange-rate fluctuations. As a result, the airline’s actual performance cannot be accurately evaluated from rupee-based figures.

⭕ When it comes to non-financial indicators that better reflect performance, the results are mixed:
• Overall traffic ↓ 5.1%
• 31 of 45 routes remain loss-making
• Aircraft in service ↑ 21 → 22
• Average utilisation ↑ 11.48 → 12.46 block hours/day

⭕ The financial year runs April 1 → March 31. The new management, appointed under the current government, had control for only about six months of FY 2024/25 - too short a period to meaningfully assess their impact.

⭕ Airlines are notoriously complex and volatile businesses. Even seasoned private operators struggle with cost, demand, and capital cycles.

⭕ Despite decades of restructuring attempts, SriLankan Airlines continues to operate at the cost of the Sri Lankan taxpayer.
Losses, debt servicing, and guarantees ultimately fall on the public , turning the airline into a long-running state experiment financed by citizens, with no clear path to financial independence.

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