By: Staff Writer February 27, Colombo (LNW): Restructuring of the national carrier SriLankan Airlines is in tatters after Sunday’s ground handling debacle, Minister of Ports, Shipping and Aviation Nimal Siripala de Silva said yesterday. “Deadline given to potential investors for submitting expressions to partner the national carrier ends on March 5,” he added. Prospective bidders for the losses and debt-saddled Sri Lankan Airlines have been frustrated due to present flight delay debacle and they will have more time with the Government extending the deadline for Request for Qualification (RfQ) to Match 05 from   January 09 this year. The previous deadline was 5 December 2023 and it was extended to January 09 the extension was following requests for more time by interested parties. SOE Restructuring Unit (SRU) earler announced. As per the SOE Restructuring Unit (SRU), the RfQ process for the sale of a majority stake in Sri Lankan Airlines will be in February this year and bid submission is slated for April and issuance of Letter of Intent in May. World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation is the lead advisor and IFC experts from Singapore, Thailand, Spain and Pakistan are involved. The prospective bidders must prove that it satisfies the Technical, Financial and Legal ualification Criteria to participate in the bidding process. The Government intends to sell SriLankan Airlines as a whole, including the profitable catering unit. The Government is also in the process of restructuring and/or removing debts/liabilities of the national carrier. Overall liabilities of SriLankan Group crossed the Rs. 700 billion mark to Rs. 705.6 billion in FY23 from Rs. 609 billion in the previous year. “The information we have received as of now is that all those who have already expressed interest are planning to withdraw after the Sunday’s flight delay, Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said. “We will have no option but to ground SriLankan airlines for good in this situation,” the Minister told a discussion which was open to the media as well. Representatives of SriLankan Airlines and its Chairman Ashok Pathirage told the discussion that four flights were delayed on Sunday – with rats being found in two aircrafts while two others had technical issues. “We had to spray a chemical to the two aircraft in which rats were found and ground them for one day as per the international standards,” Mr. Pathirage said. It was also revealed that absence of 15 ground handling staff also caused the delay. Three members of staff have applied for leave on Sunday while the remaining 12 have kept away from work casually. “Sack those who kept away from work without applying for leave,” the angry minister said.