AirAsia Consulting one of final bidders to buy SriLankan Airlines?

COLOMBO (News 1st); International media reported that Capital A Bhd's consulting unit AirAsia Consulting Sdn Bhd is believed to be one of the final three bidders in the run to acquire SriLankan Airlines (SAL).

The company is believed to be running up against two Sri Lankan business giants - a consortium of Sherisha Technologies Pte Ltd, Supreme Global Holdings and Qatar's MBS Investment and one of Sri Lanka's largest conglomerate, Hayley's PLC.

According to reports, the Sri Lankan government had selected the three companies as the final bidders in May.

It added that the privatisation deal for SriLankan Airlines was supposed to be completed by the end of this month but the process is believed to have been delayed with no exact completion date currently.

SriLankan Airlines is the flag carrier of Sri Lanka. In a bid to reduce losses that the airline has been incurring, the Sri Lankan government decided to privatised the carrier by selling its shares to interested parties under a US$2.9 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.

SriLankan Airlines, which is facing tough competition from its neighboring India-based carriers, has an all Airbus fleet comprising of 12 wide-body A330 and 12 narrow-body A320 and A321 family aircraft.