Can Sri Lanka’s Failed Advisers Fix the Rs. 340 Billion Airline Hole?
By Adolf
The Sri Lankan government’s latest attempt to rescue SriLankan Airlines from its staggering Rs. 340 billion balance sheet hole raises one glaring question: Could the AKD administration really not find better people than Duminda Hulangamuwa and Hans Wijayasuriya?
The decision to appoint a new Restructuring Committee, supported by the World Bank’s IFC, signals a welcome shift from sterile debates over ownership toward long-term commercial viability. Yet this strategic pivot is fatally undermined by the personnel chosen to steer it. The committee is chaired by Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya (Presidential Adviser on Digital Economy) and includes Duminda Hulangamuwa (Senior Presidential Economic Adviser) and Deshal De Mel. For those paying attention, these names are not symbols of reform; they are relics of the catastrophic Gotabaya Rajapaksa administration.
Let us not rewrite history. During the Gotabaya era, Hulangamuwa and Wijayasuriya served as key economic and digital advisers while the nation careened toward bankruptcy. They were at the table when the treasury—with Deshal De Mel playing a role in the Finance Ministry’s SOE restructuring unit—oversaw the infamous waste of Rs. 200 million of public money on a consultancy-driven restructuring process that produced zero privatizations. Not a single state-owned enterprise was successfully divested. The exercise was a masterclass in bureaucratic failure: millions spent on reports, foreign advisers, and internal workshops, yet the fiscal hole only deepened. To appoint the same individuals who presided over that fiasco to now fix the airline is not reform; it is a ritualistic repetition of error.
The government defends this move by citing the need for expertise in corporate strategy and public administration. But what expertise did Hulangamuwa and Wijayasuriya demonstrate last time? Hulangamuwa has still not answered for the NDB Bank fraud amounting to Rs. 13 billion. The EY brand in Sri Lanka is now a joke. Without retiring gracefully, he looks for more positions. These advisers witnessed the collapse of Sri Lankan debt, the paralysis of state enterprises, and the exodus of foreign reserves. Their “strategic review” under Gotabaya produced no tangible restructuring, no improved governance standards, and certainly no fiscal relief. Now, the same failed professionals are tasked with patching a Rs. 340 billion hole in SriLankan’s balance sheet.
Tragedy of Governance
The contrast is stark. While the airline’s operational performance has improved—EBIT rose 13.8% to Rs. 26.4 billion—legacy debt and forex losses have widened the net loss to Rs. 23.2 billion. The task requires fresh, untainted financial engineering, not the recycled ideas of those who previously wasted public funds. The government claims this committee will work with the IFC to evaluate strategic partnerships and capital reorganisation. Yet how can investors or the public trust a process led by individuals whose last major assignment ended in a Rs. 200 million waste and zero results? Furthermore, the committee’s mandate extends beyond diagnosis to execution oversight. Given Hulangamuwa and Wijayasuriya’s record—oversight failed, money vanished, and not a single asset was privatised—there is little confidence they can now navigate the treacherous waters of airline restructuring.
Sri Lanka does not need another high-powered committee of familiar failures. It needs accountability and fresh talent. Until the government stops recycling the architects of past disasters, the Rs. 340 billion hole will remain not just an airline problem, but a crisis of credibility. Gotabaya was buried by them. They will do the same to President AKD.
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