Int'l Civil Aviation Day Dec. 7 :

Sky is the limit

by Shirajiv SIRIMANE

Ceylon first saw an aircraft in the 1930s when the then Transport Minister Sir John Kotelewela initiated an aero training school in Ratmalana. However more serious flying was seen after almost a decade when aircrafts were used to drop essential items for flood victims all over the country.

In 1934, the State Council of Ceylon (as it then was) made a decision to construct an aerodrome within reach of the capital city of Colombo and decided on Ratmalana as the best site. On 27 November 1935 a de Havilland Puss Moth flown by Tyndalle Bisco, Chief Flying Instructor of the Madras Flying Club, was the first aircraft to land at the new airport.

During the Second World War it was used as an Royal Air Force base with No 30 Squadron flying Hawker Hurricanes from there against Japanese Navy aircraft. QEA flew civilianised Consolidated B-24 Liberator and Avro Lancastrian aero planes there from Perth, Western Australia, on what was at the time the world's longest non-stop air route. The flight continued after the war with an intermediate re-fueling stop at the Cocos Islands.

During world war two many military planes were seen over Colombo and people even saw Japanese flights being gunned down. Since the 1980s the airfield has been operated by the Sri Lanka Air Force as the SLAF Ratmalana with several operational squadrons based there.

Today, many domestic airlines use the airport to fly to Palaly, Trincomalee and other destinations. Air Ceylon was Ceylon's (later Sri Lanka's) national carrier, commencing scheduled operations in December 1947, and was fully state-owned. It ceased operations in 1978 and was replaced by AirLanka.

Initial services which were domestic and regional, used Douglas DC-3 Dakotas. The home base was Colombo-Ratmalana Airport. On 21 December 1949, an Air Ceylon Douglas DC-3 crashed at Trichinopoly, India. International services commenced in 1949 in partnership with Australian National Airways (ANA) using two Douglas DC-4 Skymasters named `Laxapana' and `Ratmalana'.

The ANA partnership ceased in 1953.

In 1956 a partnership arrangement commenced with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, which provided a Lockheed 749 Constellation on wet-lease for international services. This was later replaced by a Lockheed 1049 Super Constellation, and later still, a Lockheed 188 Electra turboprop.

In 1962, in a pool partnership with BOAC, international services from Colombo-Katunayake to London were started, using de Havilland Comet 4 jetliners. The Comet 4s were replaced by Vickers (BAC) VC10s in 1967 Following bankruptcy the airline was closed down by the Government of J.R. Jayawardene in 1978.

Though many people still talk about Ratmalana only a few knew that a second airport did exist at Puttalam and was abandoned due to logistic problems. The government then started looking for a suitable international airport and subsequently they decided on Katunayake. The airport began as a Royal Air Force base during the Second World War, RAF Negombo. In 1957, when S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike removed all the British Military Bases from Sri Lanka (Ceylon), the base was handed over to the Royal Ceylon Air Force (RCyAF) and renamed Katunayake. Part of it still remains an Air Force base.

In 1964 Anil Moonesinghe, the Cabinet Minister of Communications started the building of a new international airport to replace Ratmalana, with Canadian aid. The airport was completed in 1967, and Air Ceylon, the national carrier, began international operations using a Hawker Siddeley Trident and a leased British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) VC-10. The airport was also a Trans World Airlines (TWA) hub for a short time.

It was named Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) after former Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike in 1970. It was renamed Katunayake International Airport in 1977 but was changed back to Bandaranaike International Airport in 1995.

Expansion projects have been undertaken at Bandaranaike International Airport. A pier with eight aero-bridges opened in November 2005. On May 7, 2007 the Sri Lankan Government decided to shift some major military aviation out of the space adjoining the airport to SLAF Hingurakgoda, paving the way for more civilian operations.

Today, even domestic flights are being operated. The airport is undergoing resurfacing of its runway. It has been announced as of December 3, 2009, that its current runway will be expanded to 3,350 metres. Future projects may include a second runway to support the Airbus A380, the largest commercial airliner in the world, a further eight passenger gates, a domestic terminal, a 5-storey car-park, and a five-star hotel neighbouring. New approach channels into the airport will be created.

Launching of an airline for Sri Lanka was another major landmark for the country and to fulfil this obligation 'Air Lanka' was formed by the Government of Sri Lanka, in July 1979, following the termination of Air Ceylon, in 1978. Sri Lankan Airlines started its operations in a humble way, with a fleet consisting of only two Boeing 707 jets, which were bought on lease, from Singapore Airlines. Over the years, Sri Lankan Airlines has grown and now, it operates scheduled flights to a number of international destinations in Asia and Europe, with the help of its modern fleet of aircrafts. Check out more information on the profile and history of Sri Lankan Airlines. Since its inception in July 1979, AirLanka increased its number of destinations and added more aircrafts to its fleet come the advent of the 1990s decade, the airline possessed a number of sophisticated aircraft and served 26 destinations.

In 1992, the airline purchased its first Airbus A320. The State-owned airline was partially privatized in 1998 when the Dubai based Emirates Group signed an agreement with the Sri Lankan Government. As per the agreement, Emirates Group was bestowed with exclusive rights for all the aircraft ground handling and airline catering at the hub of AirLanka at Colombo-Bandaranaike airport for a period of ten years. With many international airlines patronizing the Colombo airport a demand for a second international airport was needed and thus Hambantota international airport project was launched on November 27 by President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The airport, which would fill a big void, would be constructed on 800 hectares of bare land and with an investment of Rs. 22 billion with foreign funding. The airport, in the first stage, would consist of one runway and a taxiway and under the second stage it would be expanded allowing bigger aircraft like A380s to land. With the ending of the war, a tourist boom is expected. Already 13 domestic airports such as Palali and Trincomalee are being upgraded and many new airlines are set to fly to Colombo and the Colombo sky would be a hive of activity in time to come.