Sri Lanka Domestic Airports to be Commercialized under Public Private Partnerships

29th December 2010, www.news360.lk

Sri Lanka says, work towards transforming several domestic airports to commercial airports is now underway.

Secretary to the Ministry of Ports and Aviation Ranjith de Silva said, among those airports ranks Palaly, Trincomalee, Ampara and Ratmalana.

He said, the commercialization of the above Airports will be carried out under the basis of public – private partnerships.

According to De Silva, already a private party has forwarded a proposal showing willingness to develop Ratmalana airport into a commercial airport.

The Government expect investments to come into develop runaways and terminals along with other facilities in the above airports.

Once the Domestic Airports are commercialized, a air travelers to Sri Lanka can directly rchase a ticket to the above airports from any location in the world.

Citing an example De Silva said, “A passenger boarding in in from Heathrow airport can directly purchase a ticket to the Palaly airport”

“He will have to get down from BIA and get into a domestic flight flying to Palaly”, added the Aviation Ministry Secretary.

Sri Lanka Air Force Helitours Air Service Launched under Discover Serendipity Theme

19th July 2010, www.island.lk, By Dasun Edirisinghe

Sri Lanka Air Force will re-launch its domestic air service ‘Helitours’ today (19) at No. 395, Galle Road, Colombo 03 (Colpetty).

Helitours flies under the theme "Discover Serendipity" rebranded with a new-look and state-of-the-art office in the city.

"State-of-the- art office space is not the only new feature of Helitours. For the first time in domestic aviation history, helicopters will be used to introduce scheduled flights, creating another milestone for the SLAF," said Group Captain Janaka Nanayakkara, the SLAF spokesman.

He told The Island Financial Review that the move is aimed at catering to the growing demand and the convenience of the clientele, while simultaneously taking domestic air travel to new heights.

He said that the Helitours fleet boasts of more than twenty fixed wing aircraft and helicopters including Bell-206, also known as the Jet Ranger, Bell- 212, Bell- 412 and Mi-17.

The seating capacity of the Jet Ranger is 04 while the Bell- 212 and Bell- 412 can accommodate 08 persons, Nanayakkara said adding the Mi-17 being the largest helicopter in the Helitours fleet has seating capacity of 20.

The SLAF owned aircrafts AN 32 B and Y-12 are also use for Helitorus and the aircrafts have 45 and 15 seating capacity respectively.

Nanayakkara said: Since the dawn of peace, Helitours has expanded their services, bringing new destination routes under its wings. Scheduled flights to three new routes of Batticaloa, Ampara and Anuradhapura operate from Ratmalana Air Force base every Tuesday. In addition, Helitours continues to fly to Palaly on Monday, Wednesday and Friday while the flights to China Bay in Trincomalee are on Monday and Friday.

He said that their aim is to offer an aircraft for the general public at lowest cost and all revenues would go to the Treasury.

Helitours offers both scheduled flights and chartered flights to and from any part of Sri Lanka including city to airport transfers since its inception in 1972. The brainchild of Air Marshal Paddy Mendis, Helitours was incorporated as a strategic business unit of SLAF to meet the needs of aviation and tourism in Sri Lanka.

More info: Sri lanka Air Force Helitours

USAID Launches $2bn Business Alliance Program in North/East of Sri Lanka to Create 5000 Jobs

20th April 2010, www.dailynews.lk

The U.S. Agency for International Development announced a new business alliance program with Sri Lanka’s private sector.

Partnering with five local businesses, the USAID Public-Private Partnerships for Northern and Eastern Sri Lanka (PPP) Program is expected to create around 5,000 full-time jobs in the North East.

These five alliances are all with indigenous Sri Lankan private companies. USAIDs investment of about Rs.600 million will generate an additional Rs.1,400 million investment from the private sector for a total of about Rs 2 billion.

The sectors include aquaculture, apparel manufacturing, logistics, and horticulture.

By establishing a ready-made garment plant in Omanthai, near Vavuniya in the Northern Province, an alliance between USAID and a leading garment manufacturing and export company will create 1,000 jobs for the internally displaced people, including young widows.

An alliance between USAID and a Sri Lankan aquaculture company will bring expanded production in the Eastern and Northern provinces with the dual goal of increasing fish-based income and enhancing the aquaculture supply chain of high value seafood products. By the end of the three-year project, 1,300 smallholder farmers will increase their net income by 300 percent.

A leading logistics company will invest in logistics activities to help farming communities.

Through this alliance, farmers in Northern and Eastern provinces will have an opportunity to increase both their production and income.

At least 1,500 farmers and fishermen will benefit from this alliance.

Cold storage units will be built in Jaffna, Ampara, and Batticaloa.

An alliance between USAID and a Sri Lankan horticulture company will improve the productivity and profitability of fruit and vegetable farming in Jaffna, Vavuniya, and Mannar by minimizing post harvest losses and by enhancing farmers skills in modern farming.

Around 1,100 farmers will participate in the program.

In order to rebuild economic security in the Eastern Province, the alliance with a local garment company will invest in a ready-made garment factory in Samanthurai in Ampara.

The ready-made apparel manufacturing plant will consist of 15 to 20 machine lines and more than 1,000 employees.