He said it is common for every airline to have delays but whenever there is a delay here, people tend to report it as it is the end of the world.

“Every airline has flight delays. If Qatar Airways has a flight delay, it is not reported in the press in Qatar,” he said.

He said SriLankan’s on-time performance was better than the average of the Oneworld carriers.

“The problem we're all having now is that something happens, and you need a spare part. You cannot get the spare part. So, for example, we had an aircraft that was doing a routine check in December. They found some corrosion, which happens, he added.