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CAA to issue safety notice
The Civil Aviation Authority is expected to issue an air safety notice to the local airline industry due to a controversy over a shortage of qualified pilots to fly the wide bodied SriLankan Airlines aircraft.

This decision comes in the wake of a complaint by the Airline Pilots' Guild of Sri Lanka to the Civil Aviation Authority on Friday. The pilots alleged that there weren't enough qualified cockpit pilots to relieve the captains on long flights and that those relieving the captains didn't have valid Sri Lanka Airline Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL) or an FAA-APTL (USA licence).

Civil Aviation Director General, H.N. Nimalasiri said they would discuss with the SriLankan Airlines management prior to issuing the notice. Mr. Nimalasiri, who is also the airline industry regulator said it would ensure that neither party was penalized nor passenger safety compromised. The Pilots' Guild pointed out that even expatriates hired on the A 320 fleet had left after having served less than half of their contract period.

The Airline Pilots' Guild said this situation had arisen due to an improper recruitment policy and the airline not paying adequate salaries for pilots. Capt. Milinda Ratnayake, Senior Manager, Flight Operations of SriLankan Airlines told the Sunday Times, "There has been no compromise on safety and we were meeting all the requirements according to the rules and regulations of the Civil Aviation Authority". He added that these were practices followed by all international airlines.

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