The evolution of Sri Lanka’s Aviation Industry

Sri Lanka has rich aviation history that dates back to king of Ravana. The Sri
Lankan government believes that king Ravana was the world’s first pilot flying
5000 years ago, the Sri Lanka Civil Aviation Authority now launched an
initiative to understand the system used to fly in ancient times. Legend has it
that Ravana was an extraordinary ruler of prehistoric Sri Lanka. A mighty
warrior as well as a versed scholar, Ravana is said to have regional space was
dominated by aircraft mentioned in ancient documents Dadumonara and
Phushpika Rohana, 5000 years ago Wright brothers took off. Some books
contain details of his legendary flights in Sri Lanka and across the ocean to
other kingdoms.

Ravana is known as the owner of many flying vehicles for flying. There are six
different locations in Sri Lanka served as airports for the operation and flight
of his machine like airplane. Those locations are, Weraganthota, wariapola
and Gurulupotha in Mahiyangana, Baryaola kanda in Horton, Ussangoda in the
south, and Matale. ‘Weraganthota’ in Sri Lankan language, is an obsolete word
which literally means ‘place or port for landing an aircraft’. All the locations
mentioned in myths and legends about Ravana and his planes have names
related to flying or planes. Moreover, the topography of these places is ideal
being space located on flat ground or elevated, for the operation of aircraft on
the floor. It is interesting that even in ancient times air travel was considered
a unique ability. It is also amusing to consider that Prediluvain King of Ceylon
may have had a handle on aerodynamics long before the Wright Brothers.

Curious city has always had a remarkable impact on the inborn talents of man
to change the forward march of the world and to re-engineer what existed.
Traveling by foot has been very much replaced by traveling through Air. As a
result of untiring efforts of Wright Brothers man has been able to undertake
air travel. The history of Air travel on the small island of Sri Lanka runs more
than a thousand years. Spanning more than a hundred years of Sri Lanka’s
civil aviation industry in one of the country’s proudest achievements. From
the time the first Airplane entered Sri Lanka’s airspace in 1912, to the first and
only Sri Lankan to fly a plane wearing a sarong wrap in the 1950, to his 32
year reign of Air Ceylon, the pioneering domestic commercial airline. The
history of Ceylon aviation was memorable, entertaining and dynamic.

-King of Ravana-

The Sri Lankan aviation scene is more than a hundred years old

In 1912, exactly nine years after the Wright Brothers made the first manned
powered airplane across the windswept coastline of kitty hawk, Sri Lanka
take own humble aerial story to the skies. Frenchman Georges Verminck and
Marc Poupre at Colombo grassy racecourse, became the first humans to
successfully complete a safe, powered and controlled flight in Sri Lankan
airspace. A hundred years ago to the marvelous sky of Lanka. The two
Frenchman may go down in the annals of Sri Lanka’s aviation history as the
first pilots to successfully take off, fly and land an aircraft on the Sri Lanka. On
1911 the first airplane arrived on the coast of Sri Lanka from the ship
‘Rabenfels’ for the benefit of an Englishman named Colon Brown. The plane
had an Anzani 25 horsepower engine and was built in France. After flying
from Calais to Dover across the English Channel on July 1909, Louis Bleriot
ranked this aircraft as the World’s best flying machine. Bleriot did not fly the
plane for the first few months after arriving in Sri Lanka. At the dawn of the
20th century a lot of people were interested in air travel. But only Wilbur and
Orville Wright got that opportunity first it took barely eight more years to
introduce air travel to Sri Lankan skies the historic innovation in 1903.

Colin Brown was instrumental in importing the first ever airplane to Sri
Lanka. During the initial stages it was meant for exhibition rather than air
travel purposes. People had come in numbers to witness this magic machine
after buying tickets. This airplane which was brought to Sri Lanka on a vessel
in 1911 the first ever air travel was successful from Colombo racecourse
ground which was converted to a runway track. It was George Verminck and
Marc Poupre who got the first opportunity of taking an aircraft to the Sri
Lankan skies. It was displayed at various places and people bought tickets to
see this amazing machine that could travel through the air.

After 1912 air travel activities were carried in a very low tone for several
years. The inauguration of the aviation club in 1928 was a breakthrough
moment in the history of aviation sector in Sri Lanka. This paved the way to
import more aero planes to Sri Lanka and build necessary infrastructure for
this task. It was a historical moments to witness an aero plane taking off from
the racecourse to travel to India during this period. There was a another
important incident which took place during the period from 1012-1931.
During this time a group of Tamil people who had migrated to Malaysia had
brought an aero plane to help activities during the world war. The name of the
plane was ‘Jaffna’.

The next historical incident is Air Mail service. Even before the birth of Wright
brothers in 1850, can you believe that Sri Lanka had this service in place. Our
ancestors had the talent of sending messages using pigeons. The air mail
service which is an advancement of that particular concept came in to
existence in 1931. The auspicious flight of an airplane to Sri Lanka took place
on the 31st of March 1931.

Not only did the outbreak of World War 1 end all the joys of flying on a global
scale, it also saw a sudden halt to Sri Lanka’s fledgling aviation. However as
the skies of Sri Lanka fell silent, pilots around the world began to focus on
fighter jets and bombers and there is a fascinating story about a small group of
Tamils from Jaffna who migrated to colonial Malaya. Despite their modest
means, they decided to make their own small contribution to the British
government’s war efforts by sponsoring the cost of a small two seater fighter
plane. They named it Jaffna in honor of the motherland they had left behind.
Technically speaking, this actually has nothing to do with the country’s
aviation, but it’s nice to know that at the time it was in a distant part of the
world in war-torn skies, just above Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan civil aviation field,
which was started in 1912 with the landing of the first airplane in Sri Lanka,
went one step further in the 1930 with the construction of an airport in
Rathmalana and in 1940, the British rulers developed it to an international
level with the start of the world war 2. Rathmalana which started in a small
scale later was expanded to a 600 yard runway covering area of 242 acres.
This is Sri Lanka’s first ever international airport.

On 1938, Governor Sir Andrew Caldecott formally opened Rathmalana airport

to civil aviation and officially started the first direct regular air mail services
from Sri Lanka under the British imperial air mail scheme. 1940 were quite
significant due to the developments that took at the global level. Especially the
second World War in order to facilities the activities of the second World War
an air force unit was established at Rathmalana in 1942. During the same year
Minneriya airport also came into existence. In 1942 an aero plane of royal
London air force came to Sri Lanka from Karachchi and Landed at the Koggle
airport. The civil aviation sector started another success story after the second
World War. The family of airport which consisted of Rathmalana, Nigambo,
Colombo racecourse, Katukurunda, China Bay, Sigiriya, Vawniyawa, Jaffna,
Kalmediya Koggle Dambulla, Puttalam and Virawila was further explained
with the addition of Ampara on Anuradhapura and Trincomalee. During the
same year the first ever jet from Sri Lanka took off from Nigambo.

The first national flag carrier of Sri Lanka was Air Ceylon

In 1947, Air Ceylon was established Sri Lanka’s first national airline
internationally. Number of flights from Colombo to Madras via Jaffna
international flights out of Sri Lanka increased, thus beginning the chapter of
civil aviation and its ups and downs. Sri Lanka had another airlines
established in the late 1940 before that, Sri Lankan new Airline, Air Ceylon
took its first international flight from Rathmalana airport with their cargo. The
plane was about to take off Jaffna and then Madras and the next day’s return,
was celebrated as a success by a county nearing the end of colonial rule.

-Pilots and crew members of an Air Ceylon flight-

These include the opening of Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) in

1959 and the Royal air force and Air Ceylon providing domestic flights from
Rathmalana airport to destinations such as Jaffna, Trincomalee, Batticaloa,
Ampara and Weerawila in the 1960 and 70s. Domestic air traffic was later
taken over by the Sri Lankan air force and Upali airlines, while Maharaja’s air
taxis operated charter flight to most local airports.

Partnership with other airlines

During the thirty years the airline operated, it maintained several

partnerships with international airlines. Air Ceylon had their first partnership
1949, International flight with Australian national airways (ANA). The
network for Air Ceylon was established by ANA with two DC-4 Sky master
aircraft named Lakshapana and Rathmalana. These planes flew two
directions. first flight eastwards from Rathmalana to Bombay, Karachchi,
Cairo, Rome and London. According to a centenary sky, the Australian airline
was owned 49% of Air Ceylon and the partnership lasted until 1955. During
this period, Air Ceylon added additional charters to Australia and Jeddah. In
1971, the French airline Union de Transportes Ariens became Air Ceylon’s
fourth and the ultimate international partner. The partnership between Air
Ceylon and UTA, Air Ceylon ended in 1975 when the management decided to
stay independent in all operations of the airline.

The Emirates touch

Air Lanka was partially privatized when Emirates (one of the world’s leading
airlines) purchased a 40% stake, with management rights for the next ten
years. Air Lanka today, has been a major factor in the turnaround of the
airline’s business and its continuing success. With the advent of Emirates, a
plan was launched to establish a new corporate culture in Air Lanka and
enhance service quality throughout the airline. An order was also placed for
Airbus A330-200 airplanes, twin engine ‘siblings’ of the A340.

A new beginning
July 13, 1999 was a major landmark in the airline’s history. The introduction
of a new logo, airplane livery and most importantly a new name: SriLankan
Airlines.

The Air Lanka fleet

 Airbus A340
 The new lively launched in 1999
 Airbus A320
 Boeing 747-200
 Boeing 737-200
 Lockead L-1011 Tristar

SriLankan Airline’s current fleet consists of 24 aircraft. These are split evenly
between single-aisle and dual-aisle designs, with 12 wide-body and 12
narrow-body jets out there. When it comes to the wider segment of SriLankan
Airlines, one world carrier is a fan of the A330, flying two variants. The most
numerous version of Airbus popular twin-engine aircraft is the A330-300, of
which SriLankan Airlines currently flies. All off these are active and they have
an average age of just 7.9 years old, compared to a fleet wide mean of 11.6
years.

Ceylon’s early air traffic controllers

There were no beautiful pillars and screens then. Instead, in 1930, Sri Lanka’s
air traffic controller directed air traffic from the beach- waving flags. Long ago
ATC flag hoisting was done with a little help from Morse code and lights. This
method is crude at best, but it was effective. Since the main air route at that
time was from Madras to Colombo, the Indian ruler would stand somewhere
on the south coast of India and his Ceylon counterpart would pass through the
pork straits on the Mannar coast. Morse code messages sent when the plane
left Madras told him when to expect the plane. When the plane was spotted he
raised his flag, relayed a Morse code message to the Madras and Rathmalana
airports as well as the Ceylon controller. When he saw the plane, he waved his
own flag. On reaching Rathmalana, the pilot was given clearance to land with
signal light or flare signals.

Sri Lanka civil aviation industry outlook

Major market indicators

Air Passengers traffic in Sri Lanka is expected to increase to 2.46 million by

2026, down 3.5% per year from 1.85 million in 2021. Demand in the country
has fallen by 19% since 1975. Bahrain surpassed Sri Lanka’s 1.85 million
passengers in 2021 to rank 61st. The airline industry is at a critical junction
where technology is playing a transformative role. It trend are airline
management system, a collection of software solution aimed at streamlining
myriad aspects of commercial airline operations.

In the air transport sector, services are generally divided into scheduled and
non-scheduled flights. Scheduled flights are pre-defined by airlines and
operate regularly following specific schedules. Tickets sales for these services
are open to the general public.

Map of Sri Lanka’s air connectivity

The air transport sector supports

Airlines, airport operators, airport-based enterprises and aviation service

providers employ 19,000 people in Sri Lanka. In addition, purchasing goods
and services from local suppliers supported another 9,000 jobs. The sector is
estimated to support another 6,000 jobs through wages it pays employees.
Some or all of it is then spent on consumer goods and services. Foreign
tourists arriving by air in Sri Lanka, spend their money in the local economy,
and are estimated to support an additional 669,000 jobs. A total of 703,000
jobs are supported by aviation industry. The civil aviation industry including
airlines and its supply chain, is estimated to contribute US$446 million to Sri
Lanka’s GDP.

A bright future
2023 is a good year for the aviation sector. Fossil fuel use was a dominant
factor in the air transport industry in 2013, and the International Air
Transport Association (IATA) released its global vision for air transport in
2023. While previous service and industry peaks may remain, the same rate of
growth and financial recovery may not occur in 2024 and beyond. In its
outlook, IATA states that successful codification of alternative energy
transport is necessary to chart a new world for sustainable and inclusive
growth leading to improved economic categories.

Sri Lankan Airlines intends to lease 21 aircraft to support their long term
growth strategy. Four requests for proposals have been issued for several
aircraft types including the Airbus A330 and Airbus A350 for long-haul
services and small regional aircraft. SriLankan Airlines currently has 24
aircraft, with around 60% of deliveries to replace existing aircraft. the
remaining airline’s long term expansion plans.

Although flight to Russia were recently suspended due to the conflict in

Ukraine, SriLankan Airlines long term strategy has focused on growth by
increasing frequencies on existing routes and adding new international
routes.