SriLankan Airlines says it has obtained the government’s approval to recruit foreign pilots.
Its CEO Richard Nuttal explained that recruiting foreign pilots comes as a bid to address the prevailing pilot shortage the national carrier is facing.
In June 2023, the Civil Aviation Authority said SriLankan Airlines and Fits Air have sought permission to hire foreign pilots, noting that both airlines are facing a serious shortage of pilots.
A large number of Sri Lankan aviation industry experts and pilots have left the country in the past few months to join foreign airlines that offer much higher salaries, according to the CAA.
The Airline Pilots’ Guild of Sri Lanka recently said SriLankan Airlines requires at least 330 pilots to function at full capacity for the designated flights. However, more than 70 pilots have resigned from the airline since 2022 with many more resignations pending and this has resulted in a complete depletion of pilots, the Pilots’ Guild said further.
