No flying by night to Batticaloa
Sri Lanka’s civilian flights to the East coast opened with the Batticaloa airport being fully commissioned at the weekend however air services are restricted to only day-time operations. There won’t be any night operations for civilian aircraft unless special permission has been granted by the Sri Lanka Air Force, that continues to operate the airport, alongside the Airport and Aviation Authority (AASL), the authority’s Executive Director Johanne Jayaratne said this week.
He noted that while military flights could operate at any time the civilian aircraft would be restricted to day-time operations as the control tower at the airport would be operated by civilian air traffic controllers from dawn to dusk and by Air Force air traffic controllers from dusk to dawn. Ratmalana Airport also operates civilian flights only during the day with special permission required for night operations.
In a bid to promote the facility, the authorities have ensured that no landing or parking charges would be made from aircraft operating to the airport. Officer in Charge of the Batticaloa Airport – Chinthaka Fonseka said that Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva had announced waiving off all charges for landing and parking in a bid to promote the airport for a period of six months.
At present Cinnamon Air operates its daily scheduled flights and Fly Southern has joined in with three scheduled flights on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
Amidst much wrangling by the Civil Aviation Authority and the AASL with the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF), the latter had finally agreed to allow civil operations to be carried out at the Batticaloa airport.
Earlier despite cabinet approval and a gazette issued declaring the facility to be handed over to the AASL, the SLAF had continued to man the airport leading to a tense situation with the Aviation Ministry that had allocated over Rs.1 billion for its construction and renovation.
This domestic airport could accommodate corporate jets and 50-seater planes or less that would be operating as a category 2B airfield on the 1200 metre length runway.