The Sunday Times: Sri Lanka: Sunday, July 22, 2018.
A year-long
effort by the Airline Pilots Guild of Sri Lanka (APGSL) to secure details of
salaries, allowances and other benefits of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO),
the Head of Human Resources and the Chief Commercial Officer of SriLankan has
borne fruit, with the details being released to the Right to Information
Commission (RTIC) this Tuesday.
Also released
were the cost of personal flying training of the CEO; agreement for the wet
lease of one of SriLankan’s A330 aircraft to Pakistan International Airlines
(PIA); agreements cancelling leases on A350-900 aircraft taken by SriLankan
from Aercap; and minutes of board meetings that discussed and approved the
purchase and lease of several A350 aircraft.
The RTIC had
directed SriLankan to redact what is sought to be withheld on the basis of
commercial confidence sections of reports commissioned by the airline from
aviation specialists Nyras Ltd, SeaWorks Training and Consulting, and Seabury
Consulting. These will be submitted to the Commission to be scrutinised for
conformity with the RTI Act after August 21, 2018. The RTIC will make its
assessment by September 11.
The APGSL
filed an RTI request in June 2017 for all correspondence and information,
including profits, losses and damages, related to PIA’s entry into a lease
agreement with SriLankan and the subsequent termination of that contract; and
information related to the cancellation of orders for Airbus A350s from Airbus
SAS. It also asked for all information related to the cost of personal flying
training for the A320 jet conversion borne by SriLankan Airlines for the CEO
Suren Ratwatte.
After the
carrier’s information and designated officers refused the request citing
exemptions, the APGSL lodged an appeal with the RTIC in September 2017. Later,
Sri Lankan raised a preliminary objection that it was not subjected to the
jurisdiction of the RTI Act which was dismissed by the Commission earlier this
year, which dismissal was accepted by SriLankan.
Last month,
the Commission ordered SriLankan to release the salaries of top management and
disclose the cost of the CEO’s flying training. It also called for disclosure
of all agreements entered into for the wet lease of its A330 aircraft to PIA
and information related to the rental of several A350 airbuses from AerCap as
well as subsequent cancellation of those leases as the matter is now concluded.
However, the
RTIC upheld SriLankan’s decision to withhold information related to the
cancellation of purchase of aircraft from Airbus SAS as the negotiations are still
ongoing. But all minutes and board papers pertinent to the above were ordered
to be released subject to any redaction that the public authority may establish
in law as necessary regarding commercial confidence or excluded as coming
within the ambit of information given by a third party which was treated as
confidential at the time. However, SriLankan has opted not to redact any
section of the minutes.
The release
of information–with SriLankan declining to exercise its option to appeal to the
Court of Appeal against the RTIC order–marks an important step for release of
salaries of top officials and board meeting minutes and for release of
agreements notwithstanding confidentiality clauses impacting positively on the
growth of the emerging RTI regime in Sri Lanka.
According to
the documents, CEO Suren Ratwatte was earning a basic monthly salary of Rs 3.27
million (net salary was Rs 2,140,884). His flying training cost the national
carrier US$ 23,568 (Rs 3.74 million). He received a company-maintained vehicle
and driver, actual fuel cost and reimbursement of one annual membership
subscription at any club in Sri Lanka, among other benefits.
The
information released also detailed the basic salary of the Head of Human
Resources (HHR) and the Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) as LKR 998,004/- and GBP
9500/- respectively, along with similar benefits as the CEO with the addition
of furnished accommodation of up to max Rs. 250,000 a month for the CCO.
The documents
confirm that SriLankan agreed to pay a total of US$ 161,770,000 (Rs
25,698,782,200) to Aercap for the termination of lease agreements for four
Airbus A350s.
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