SriLankan Airlines (UL, Colombo International) has signed a provisional USD1.3billion deal with Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) for six A330-300s and four A350-900s due for delivery between 2014 and 2023. According to the airline's CEO, Kapila Chandrasena, the deal is part of a fleet renewal exercise which will see the gradual phasing out of all six A340-300s and seven A330-200s currently in active service. With news emerging that the Sri Lankan national carrier expects to post a USD134.8million loss for its 2012/13 Financial Year, Mr Chandrasena said his airline would "work with either a financial institution or a leasing firm that would buy the aircraft and lease them back to the carrier over a lease period of 10 to 15 years, with a shorter period for the A330-300s and a longer period for the A350-900s." A proposal in which Boeing (BOE, Washington National) pitched its B787-8 was rejected on the grounds that it offered no interim solution to the airline's short-term equipment requirements. Once the renewal exercise is in full swing, Sri Lankan, which is 51 percent state-owned, expects to break even during its 2015/16 financial year.