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Airports operator 2024 profit slips 25%, but pays Rs 664.6m bonus
View(s):By Kapila Bandara
State-owned Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) (Private) Limited, the aviation services provider, has reported a 25% drop in profit for 2024 at Rs 21.108 billion versus Rs 28.122b the year before.
But, the company has paid Rs 664.6 million in bonus, the national auditor observes. The audit note refers to 2025 bonus, while it may be for 2024.
In 2023, AASL even paid Rs 50,000 bonus advance totalling Rs 178.8 million to 3,589 employees. This was during Sri Lanka’s economic bankruptcy period. The national auditor also notes that Rs 125,000 year-end bonus has been paid for every worker.
Besides, Rs 514.5m has been paid as leave cash.
Directors have been overpaid Rs 67m for their fuel, exceeding the allowance limit, the national auditor says. Fuel allowance is approved for “277 officers’’.
In contrast, the company’s dividend payout to the Government was Rs 1.286b in 2024, a mere 3% increase.
Staff pay packets have shot up. Remuneration and benefits increased to Rs 14.294 billion, impacting profits. It was a 30% surge from the year before. Retirement benefits obligations exceed 9.3b in 2024.
In 2019, staff costs were Rs 8.128b.
Turnover in 2024 increased by 14% on year to Rs 43.897b as against Rs 38.376b in the year before, filings this week to Parliament show.
Much of its revenue of Rs 43.9b, was from the tax paid by passengers leaving Sri Lanka, mostly the hundreds of thousands leaving for jobs in West Asia, South Korea, and elsewhere, and entry permits fees. These were supported by revenue from retail, duty free, advertising, lounges, food and beverage, commercial rents,
This revenue was supplemented by revenue from landing and parking charges generated from airlines, overflying charges (right to pass through) and aerobridge fees. Aeronautical revenue edged up by a mere 3%.
The company, now Headed by H D Abeywickrema, retired air chief marshal, describes this as “delivering exceptional performance across all operational and financial metrics’’.
He also declares that we “proudly report an operational profit of Rs 19.6b’’. In 2023, the operating profit was 19.3b. In effect it was flat growth.
Return on equity, a profitability metric, has plunged from 50% to 27% and operating profit edged up by an insignificant 1% from the year before.
Mr Abeywickrema’s bio is spread out across a whole page and overflows onto another page in the annual report.
AASL has increased its headcount to more than 4,000 from 3,940 in 2023. Staff costs have shot up by more than Rs 3b to exceed Rs 14b. This is a substantial increase compared with below Rs 8b in 2020. AASL says 2,259 employees were handed annual increments in 2024.
In 2024, AASL also allocated Rs 285 million for lending to its staff. Employee loans of 378 were handed out under a below market annual interest rate of 4.2% for up to Rs 200,000. It is repayable over four years.
Two employees were given 5% interest refund on housing loans, a subsidy for state workers from the public purse.
Under a staff medical scheme, confirmed employees and families can avail themselves of Rs 150,000 to Rs 350,000 healthcare.
Admin costs have increased by 28%, from Rs 19.1b to Rs 24.3b in 2024. Staff costs were the largest cost.
Annual expenditure was Rs 24 billion.
The main airport in Colombo as well as Mattala, Ratmalana, Batticaloa, and Jaffna airport are under AASL purview.
Scheduled flights were 5% below 2019 levels at 36.4m, AASL said, attributing this to movements of larger aircraft.
Among the airlines that resumed flights was British-owned Hong Kong carrier Cathay Pacific Airways, which flew in on February 2024. In November 2024, Edelweiss Air, a subsidiary of Swissair, resumed connections to Zurich, Switzerland. Etihad and Turkish Airlines increased flights. Thai Airways resumed daily flights to Bangkok.
In 2024, AASL recorded 8.9m travellers, “far exceeding Terminal 1’’ annual capacity of 6m passengers.
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