COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's state-run carrier could post a loss of as much as $160 million (£132 million) this financial year, as tourist arrivals in the island nation fell following the Easter bombings in April.
"The forecast (for fiscal year ending March 2020) soon after the Easter Sunday attack is about $160 mln... but I'll be happy if I can cap it around $100-$120 million," Vipula Gunatilleka, the Chief Executive Officer of SriLankan Airlines, told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday.
Islamist militants on April 21 bombed churches and luxury hotels across Sri Lanka, killing more than 250 people and severely denting its tourism sector, one of the country's top revenue streams.
That loss would however be marginally narrower than the $168 million reported in the fiscal year to end-March 2019, Gunatilleka said.
(Reporting by Shihar Aneez and Sankalp Phartiya, editing by Louise Heavens)
