The government of Sri Lanka has extended the deadline for foreign entities to submit their Expressions of Interest (EOI) for SriLankan Airlines (UL, Colombo International) and Mihin Lanka (Colombo International) from August 24, to August 31.
In a statement, the government said the week-long extension had been brought about following a request from four interested firms. The firms said their internal policy decision-making processes did not allow them enough time to make the original submission date.
”We extended the EOIs’ closing date till end of this month. By about end of September to October we’ll be collecting the EOIs. Once we go through them, we aim to have serious discussions with the potential partners by January next year,” Eran Wickramaratne, Deputy Minister Public Enterprise Development, told the Business Times.
Each submission must be accompanied by a non-refundable deposit of USD5,000. BNP Paribas and KPMG have been appointed financial and transaction advisers.
Despite previous denials to the contrary, government has now said it will proceed with the merger of Mihin Lanka into SriLankan Airlines later this year.
Public Enterprises Development Minister Kabir Hashim told The Daily News last month that despite the two carriers' differing philosophies - one a traditional full-service national carrier with the other a hybrid LCC - the merger would have to occur in order to cut down soaring costs.
Mihin Lanka's route allocations will also compliment SriLankan's new business plan which is geared towards regional expansion as opposed to longhaul growth.
“Mihin Lanka has some important routes like to Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta and Dhaka, Bangladesh and we want to retain them," he said. "We will ask SriLankan Airlines to service these routes after the merger.”
Mihin Lanka operates one A319-100, one A320-200, and two A321-200s on regular flights to fourteen destinations in eight other countries including: Bahrain, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Seychelles, Maldives, and Oman.
