The Sri Lankan government has proposed handing LKR20b rupees (US$67.5m) to SriLankan Airlines (UL, Colombo International) to repay loans and make interest payments. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake outlined the plan while delivering his 2025 budget speech in Colombo on February 17. "The government would sign an agreement with those banks and set aside LKR10b [US$33.7m] for loan capital repayment in 2025 as well as LKR10b for interest payments," Dissanayake said. "The airline would be fully responsible for ensuring operating profitability once these legacy debt service costs are settled by the government." Speaking at the Asia Aviation Festival in Singapore the following day, SriLankan Airlines CEO Richard Nuttall said the carrier had been paying as much as 17% of its revenues to service financing costs. While the airline has been operationally profitable for the past three years, "we have lot of legacy debt that needs to be cleaned up." The airline's reasonably strong recent performance and Sri Lanka's recovery from near bankruptcy three years ago have opened up new financing avenues, Nuttall said. He added that SriLankan Airlines' business plan involves doubling the current 22-strong fleet within five years.<br/>