News and Update from Aircraft Engineers Sri Lanka
Nov 01 in Members News
Sri Lanka, the island nation in the Indian Ocean is struck by a second wave of the COVID-19 virus since October. Despite desperate attempts made by the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and Health authorities, the country is taking its toll and has been forced for localized lockdowns. SriLankan Airlines, the national carrier of the country too is affected by the pandemic with most of its destinations have closed down, especially India which accommodates to about 40% of its traffic. In order for the survival of the national carrier, its main stakeholder, the GoSL has taken several measures to save costs and increase revenue at this difficult time. Staff salary reductions, lease payment deferrals, temporary suspension of promotions are a few steps initiated by the management to cater the need of the hour. Regardless of these setbacks, Association of Licensed Aircraft Engineers of SriLankan Airlines (ALAE) and its members toil day and night for the success of the airline in every possible way in their scope of work.
ALAE members are actively engaged in parking and preservation maintenance tasks apart from the maintenance in the operating aircrafts. Apart from the routine duties, ALAE members operate as Flying Spanners to various destinations to minimize the cost for the airline, helping Sri Lankans stranded abroad to repatriate at an affordable cost. The highlight of this project was the “Mercy flight” to Wuhan, China where the heart of pandemic was and repatriated stranded Sri Lankan students safely to the country. Engineers were at the forefront in converting a passenger aircraft (4R-ALS) in to a cargo aircraft, giving an extra edge in the blooming cargo business in the region. This ensured in operating cargo delivery flights to destinations such as Johannesburg, Milan, Paris, Frankfurt, Hanoi which had not been operated in the recent past. C-Check for a third party airline (Maldivian Airline) too was performed by ALAE members successfully bringing revenue to the airline. Furthermore, ALAE provides timely suggestions and measures to adopt to address contemporary issues faced by the Engineering department and the airline, following AEI’s objective of preserving safe and cost effective air travel.
Sudila Welikala
Secretary ALAE SriLanka