By Tharindu Chaturanga
Former SriLankan Airlines Chairman Nishantha Wickramasinghe was the first and only chairman of the national airline to interfere with the flight schedules.
SriLankan Airlines Operations Control Manager Dhammika Senanayake said that in his 33 year old career he never came across a Chairman who interfered with the schedule of the airline.
Senanayake said this while testifying before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) investigating allegations against SriLankan Airlines and Mihin Lanka.
Senanayake told the commission that on January 25, 2014 two SriLankan Airlines aircraft were unavailable due to maintenance and he had to reschedule the flights.
However he claimed that Wickramasinghe had telephoned him and directed him to revert to the old schedule.
Following Wickramasinghe’s orders Senanayake had reverted to the old schedule.
This resulted in 128 passengers being forced to miss their connecting flights and SriLankan Airlines had to spend an additional US$ 90,261 to assist the passengers.