CAA seeks flight details of world leaders

by Manjula Fernando

A special flight operation plan will be implemented by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to ensure the safety of aircrafts and passengers in the Sri Lanka's airspace while minimising inconvenience to regular flight passengers during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in November.

The objective is to manage safe landing and take off of 'special state flights' and commercial flights calling over during the summit while avoiding possible delays due to the increased air traffic by flights carrying delegates to the CHOGM.

Heightened air traffic is anticipated during the forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and the side events that will be held from November 10 through 17 with as many as over 40 world leaders flying into Sri Lanka possibly via Colombo's international airport at Katunayake. The Civil Aviation Authority in consultation with the Foreign Ministry has already sought landing and departure schedules of world leaders arriving for the CHOGM summit to avert a possible clash with the regular flight operations at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), Katunayake.

"We have sent them a template of available time slots and our daily flight schedules and asked them to avoid rush hours," Civil Aviation Authority Director General H.M.C. Nimalsiri said adding that it would be only few days ahead that they will hear from some of them since the big countries would not be in a position to divulge or confirm their flight details due to security and work related reasons.

It is expected that many world leaders may arrive in special state flights with few leaders opting regular flights operated by international airlines to fly into Sri Lanka. The CAA expects at least 35 special flights for the forthcoming summit, the biggest ever international event hosted by Sri Lanka after Non Aligned Summit in 1976."We have asked the respective teams to apply for time slots in advance so that delays to air traffic during the summit could be minimised."

However, the Director General said that they were aware that all delegations may not fit into the CAA flight plan but they have left a margin for certain exceptions, hence some delays to flights may be inevitable during the summit period.

The air traffic in the Colombo airspace is expected to peak from November 12 to November 19 with the country delegations landing and departing before and after the main Leaders summit from November 15 to 17. An average of 100 international flights arrive and depart from BIA every day.

Ratmalana airport has been done up to accommodate international flights and Ratmalana as well as Rajapaksa International Airport in Mattala will be used to ease congestion during the summit.

Currently Ratmalana is a busy domestic airport used by both civilian and Airforce aircrafts. "For flight parking and hangar facilities we may send the special flights off to Ratmalana and Mattala."

The Director General said CAA is working with the Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) Ltd and the Air force on the CHOGM preparations to ensure safe air travel to the foreign delegates and to prevent disruptions to regular flights. Some world leaders have indicated that they will use their own domestic flights to travel within Sri Lanka.

The Director General said they may have to wait until seven to ten days before the summit to finalise international and domestic flight plans for world leaders, foreign ministers and other officials and delegates attending the main summit as well as the Business forum, People's forum and Youth forum held in different venues in Colombo, Hikkaduwa and Hambantota.

In addition to the Heads Meeting, over 200 foreign delegates for the Youth forum, over 300 foreign delegates for the People's forum and over 500 delegates for the Business Forum are expected to arrive in the country during the summit.