Sri Lanka's cash-strapped airline may lease 4 planes to Pakistan

SriLankan Airlines is in talks to lease 4 of its Airbus A330 planes to Pakistan International Airlines, a govt minister said Thursday, months after cancelling an order for 4 Airbus A350 aircraft. SriLankan Airlines aims to reduce its debt and is looking for an international partner to help reverse years of losses. "A team from the airline is in Pakistan for negotiations. We will lease 1 A330, latest next month, on wet lease," Kabir Hashim, minister of Public Enterprise Development, said. Hashim also said SriLankan would lease 3 more A330s "in the next few months", but did not discuss the type of lease. The airline, which has taken on 7 Airbus A330-300s since 2012, has debts of around US$3.25b. Hashim said the airline paid around $450,000 dollars a month to lease each A330. <br/>