Archives

by Ranil Wijayapala

The Government will review the agreement with Emirates of Dubai to ascertain whether they enjoys monopoly in using the air space, Transport, Highways and Civil Aviation Minister Tilak Marapana said yesterday.

Addressing a press conference at the Defence Ministry, the Minister said that the Government will renegotiate with Emirates regarding the terms and the conditions of the agreement to remove the barriers for other air lines to operate in Sri Lanka.

Emirates in 1998 bought 40 percent of SriLankan Airlines for US $ 70 million with an initial payment of US $ 45 million. It enjoyed a concession to pay the balance in 30 months.

Moves are now on to liberalise the civil aviation laws to uplift the Katunayake airport as a regional centre specifically as a cargo transhipment Minister Marapana said.

He said as a prelude to this the Department of Civil Aviation will be turned into a Civil Aviation Authority.

This will be facilitated through the enactment of the Civil Aviation Act to upgrade the legal framework of the civil aviation sector, the Minister added.

The Bill regarding the Civil Aviation Act will be presented in the parliament next month, he said.

The Minister said the strategic locality of the Katunayake airport emerged as a regional centre for air line operations and the development of the airport will be major revenue source for the country, he added.

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries |

Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager