Mihin Lanka adds business class, re-fleets. Sri Lanka hardly needs two government-owned airlines

Sri Lankan hybrid carrier Mihin Lanka plans to transition from A320 family aircraft to 737-800s and introduce a business class product. But the government-owned carrier is expected to remain very small with a fleet of only three aircraft.

While Mihin Lanka has had some success opening secondary routes, the carrier is too small to generate any significant economies. The Sri Lankan government should relook at the business case for Mihin Lanka and consider merging the carrier into SriLankan Airlines.

Sri Lanka's two carriers are both fully government-owned and codeshare on some routes, but are separate companies. It is hardly a typical two-brand strategy, but Sri Lanka's politics-riddled aviation policy is hardly a sound one.