Sri Lanka's airlines, Lufthansa to start aircraft repair hub

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's national airlines has joined hands with German carrier Lufthansa to set up a aircraft repair hub in the country's southern district of Hambantota.


Lufthansa AG's maintenance arm, Lufthansa Technik, would open the repair facility at the Chinese-built Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport in the southern district of Hambantota by next July, Nishantha Wickramasingha, Chairman, Sri Lankan Airlines, said.

"We are in discussions to finalise our business plan and work out the equity to be put into the new venture," Sri Lankan Airlines chief executive Kapila Chandrasena said.

The facility would be developed as a regional centre for repair and maintenance of Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 aircrafts and it is hoped to service about 110 aircrafts annually, they said.

The aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul operations will take the centrestage in the island's second international airport, they added.

Srilankan Airlines in June signed a deal to buy six new Airbus A330-300 aircraft and four of the latest Airbus A350-900 jets in its re-fleeting programme.