'Even a dog wouldn't eat it': Sri Lanka's national carrier stops serving cashews after outrage from President Sirisena

Colombo: Sri Lanka's national airline said Wednesday it has stopped serving cashews after the country's president flew into a rage over nuts served to him on a flight to Colombo."Returning from Kathmandu, I was served some cashews on board a SriLankan flight, but it was so bad even a dog wouldn't eat it," Maithripala Sirisena said on Monday."I want to know who authorised the purchase of these nuts," the president told a meeting of farmers.[caption id="attachment_5170711" align="alignleft" width="380"] File image of Sri Lanka president Maithripala Sirisena. Reuters[/caption]An airline spokesman said it has responded by clearing its stock of cashews — only served in business class — and would change its Dubai-based supplier.This is not the first time that airline nuts have prompted outrage. In 2014 a South Korean heiress famously ordered a Korean Air plane back to its gate to eject a cabin crew member after she was served nuts still in their packet.Last month Colombo renewed its search for an equity investor in the loss-making and heavily indebted SriLankan after the International Monetary Fund warned that the airline was dragging the country's economy down.In May last year, attempts to privatise the carrier collapsed after a US private equity firm withdrew its bid for a 49 percent stake.The airline was profitable before Mahinda Rajapakse, when he was president, cancelled a management agreement with Emirates in 2008 following a personal dispute. The carrier had refused to bump fare-paying passengers and give their seats to Rajapakse's family.Rajapakse removed the Emirates-appointed chief executive of SriLankan and made his brother-in-law Nishantha Wickremasinghe head of the company. Wickremasinghe is now under investigation for corruption and mismanagement.