Sri Lanka: Rat grounds national airline for 3 days, sparks investor concern

The national airline of Sri Lanka blamed a rat on Tuesday for the three-day plane grounding, which resulted in catastrophic delays and raised concerns that the cash-strapped company may lose investors.

When the stowaway rat was seen having fun aboard Thursday’s SriLankan Airlines Airbus A330 trip from the Pakistani city of Lahore, a search was launched on the aircraft to make sure it hadn’t chewed through any crucial components.

The plane has finally resumed flights, but the grounding affected the entire schedule, according to an airline spokesperson.

“The aircraft was grounded for three days at Colombo,” an airline official told the media.

“The plane could not be flown without making sure that the rat was accounted for. It was found dead.”

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Out of its fleet of twenty-three aircraft, three have been grounded for more than a year by the state-owned airline, which at the end of March 2023 had incurred losses exceeding $1.8 billion.

The carrier lacks the foreign exchange necessary to cover the engines’ required overhauls.

Reporters were informed by Aviation Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva that the rogue rodent would deter “the few investors” who are considering buying the indebted airline.

Its sale has been tried but failed by several governments. The airline was offered one dollar by the previous government, but no one was interested.