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Sri Lanka has invited bids for state-run carrier SriLankan Airlines as the island nation looks to reduce losses incurred by government-owned enterprises under a $2.9b International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme. The South Asian country secured a staff level IMF agreement on the first review of its bailout recently but it still needs approval from the IMF's Executive Board. The economy is gradually recovering from a crisis last year caused by record low reserves, leading to sky-rocketing inflation and currency depreciation. The airline, one of Sri Lanka's biggest loss-making state enterprises, has struggled in recent years with a fall in tourism because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic crisis. The finance ministry posted a notice inviting bids for the airline by Dec. 5. It aims to complete the sale by June. The government is in the process of restructuring the company's debt, according to the bid notice. SriLankan Airlines racked up operational losses of $575m since 2015 but posted an operational profit of $93m this year, financial information disclosed as part of the bid documents showed. International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, is the transaction adviser. The airline operates a fleet of Airbus aircraft on its global route network of 111 destinations in 56 countries.<br/>

Pilots at Network Aviation, the charter subsidiary of Qantas Airways, will back down from a planned strike this week, the Australian Federation of Pilots said on Tuesday. The AFAP on Friday indicated the pilots will stop work on Wednesday and Thursday in a bid to negotiate wages, which would have disrupt charter operations for the country's resources sector. Qantas on Tuesday said it placed contingency measures, including using aircrafts from the wider group and other airlines, to replace services that would have been impacted. Many mining and energy companies staff operations on a fly-in/fly-out model rather than permanently basing employees at remote sites, a business Network Aviation operates in. Australia's industrial relations tribunal, the Fair Works Commission (FWC), had presided over talks between the parties on Monday. The FWC after the talks said a Joint Consultative Committee had been established to discuss the application of the enterprise agreement or other matters as agreed between the parties. AFAP members – who make up 90% of Network Aviation's pilot group – won't be engaging in protected action until next week's bargaining sessions are completed, the union said. The union will attend in-person bargaining sessions facilitated by the FWC from Nov. 7. Qantas expressed disappointment over union choosing to "cause disruption and uncertainty" by threatening the strike a few days before a meeting with the FWC.<br/>