Aug 20, Colombo: The SriLankan Airlines' financial performance for the year 2007/08 was severely affected by the steep rise in the price of aviation fuel, resulting in an operational loss of Rs. 588 million, the airline reported.

The airline spent an additional Rs. 6.538 billion for fuel in 2007/08, with the fuel bill increasing by 27.64% to Rs. 30.196 billion from Rs. 23.658 billion in the previous year. This was the result of the average price of jet fuel reaching USD 101.81 per barrel in 2007/08, as against USD 87.09 in 2006/07.

However, the sale and leaseback of three Airbus A340 aircrafts resulted in a Group net profit of Rs. 4.899 billion for the year. In the previous year, the Group recorded a net profit of Rs. 862.18 million.

The Group consists of SriLankan Airlines Ltd. and its fully-owned subsidiary SriLankan Catering (Pvt) Ltd.