Serious questions have emerged over whether SriLankan Airlines management misled Parliament, after technical evidence exposed automated ghost bookings on the national carrier’s system despite officials denying any cyber interference.
The airline’s top officials were summoned before the Sectoral Oversight Committee on Infrastructure, where Chairman S. M. Marikkar and other legislators pressed them on system vulnerabilities and data security.
Airline Chairman Dimal Perera and senior official Dimuthu Tennekoon rejected the claims entirely.
They assured the committee that system security was normal and that no technical disruptions had occurred.
Technical data, however, showed that automated bots were making fictitious seat reservations while the officials were addressing Parliament.
Such programs block seats in advance without ordinary passenger involvement.
Technical codes such as “CMB UL08AI” flagged the abnormal transactions, which appear to contradict the assurances given by management.
Industry experts have warned that the activity amounts to commercial sabotage rather than a technical glitch.
Fictitious seat blocking creates artificial ticket shortages and pushes up airfares for regular travellers, they said.
This inflicts heavy revenue losses on the state-run airline, which relies on public funds, and harms the domestic tourism industry.
Legal experts note that misleading a parliamentary committee is a punishable offence under the Parliament (Powers and Privileges) Act.
An independent technical investigation is now being urged to establish whether management misled legislators and who engineered the manipulation of the system.