Emerging stronger: What's next for SriLankan Airlines?

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In recent years, Sri Lanka has undergone a period of economic and political transformation. Now, emerging with a re-energised focus on its booming tourism market, SriLankan Airlines sits at the centre of the island's growth ambitions. Although there is still a long way to go and the airline is still hamstrung by legacy debt, the Sri Lankan flag carrier has been operationally profitable for three years and plans to build on its positive momentum.

In this keynote Interview with Richard Nuttall, CEO of SriLankan Airlines, at Aviation Festival Asia 2025, "Exploring SriLankan’s commitment to customers and future collaborative opportunities," Nuttall shared the airline's evolving strategy, from capitalising on recent opportunities to exploring possibilities for new partnerships. The conversation covered fleet expansion, network growth, and short term plans for attracting more traffic.

The airline is going from strength to strength and, between tourism's return, India booming, and the country's strategic location, Nuttall is confident it "could be in a really different place within a few years with he right investment."

When Lee asked the critical question, "is SriLankan Airlines looking for a strategic partner?" Nuttall responded:

"Tourism is really, really important and therefore the airline is really, really important. But it's strategically important for Sri Lanka and therefore the control should be within Sri Lanka. So I think the view is that as far as possible that investment should be Sri Lankan. Now, the debate is going on at the moment as to how that actually operates. Is it the airline, is it subsidiaries, is it government money, is it public private partnerships, is it to go to the stock market market? Decisions have not been made on that, but there are options and because of the growth of tourism and the growth of foreign airlines, the multiples are much more favourable than they would have been two years ago. So there are more options on the table, but the plan at the moment is as far as possible to keep the ownership and management within Sri Lanka."

Watch the full interview below for more on the airline's long term goals, short term strategies, and privatisation discussions.

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