Sri Lanka’s airline has grounded a pilot who locked out his co-pilot as she took a toilet break during a flight from Sydney to Colombo, officials said. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has opened an investigation.
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“The airline is fully cooperating with the relevant authorities and the captain has been banned from flying pending the outcome of the investigation,” SriLankan Airlines said in a statement.
The captain had a row with the co-pilot over the fact that she had walked out without arranging for another crew member to sit alongside her in the cockpit, as per procedures, a source said of the airline.
Landing without incident
The cabin crew had to persuade the captain to allow the co-pilot to return to her seat on the Airbus A330. Both pilots made the landing without incident.
The airline has been hit by chronic delays and staff shortages after finding itself short of cash to fund engine refurbishments on some of its grounded planes.
Successive governments have attempted to sell the debt-ridden company. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) demanded the restructuring of loss-making state companies, including SriLankan Airlines, when it granted Colombo a $2.9 billion bailout in 2023.
With nearly 6,000 employees, SriLankan Airlines is the largest and most expensive of the loss-making companies digging into the budget hole.
The economic crisis of 2022 led Sri Lanka to default on its external debt amounting to $46 billion.
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