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| Thursday, 10 June 2004 |
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SriLankan Air Taxi nets Rs. 4.5m in five months by Irangika Range SriLankan Air Taxi, a domestic air service of the SriLankan Airline has recorded significant income growth during the past five and half months. The revenue up to date from operations has been around Rs 4.5 million despite operations being suspended for one full month for a security assessment during the high winter peak of January this year. Over 450 passengers, foreign and local have been carried during the period. The Air Taxi (seaplane) has focused much attention to promote the eco-tourism potential for the tourist industry in Sri Lanka. An official from SriLankan Airlines said Sri Lanka has much potential to be ranked among the top Eco-Tourism destinations in the world. As light aircraft is able to fly at low altitudes, visitors had a close-up bird's eye view of the breathtaking scenery of the island. The amphibious aircraft offers a smoother and faster ride than other forms of air transportation. "The duration of each journey is thirty minutes and the seaplane departs only from the Bandaranaike International Airport and the Ratmalana Airport. The air taxi destinations are Kandy (Victoria Reservoir), Koggala (Koggala Lake), Bentota (Bentara river), Trincomalee (China Bay), Anuradhapura (Airfield) and Hingurakgoda (Airfield). The flight is scheduled according to passengers' requirements. This is a good opportunity to visit Sri Lanka's natural habitats," he said. "Air taxi tourists are mainly from Germany, United Kingdom and France, expatriates from the Middle East and Sri Lankan businessmen. The sector, which is most popular among Air Taxi passengers, are the sectors of Koggala and Bentota. This is mainly due to the popularity of the Beach resorts, small boutique hotels and the Ayruvedic hotels in the down south area. In addition Kandy (Victoria) has gained momentum from the Golfing segment,"he said "The project is targeted at high spenders rather than those who come on package holidays. This would be a good opportunity to increase tourists' income. All destinations are popular tourists attractions and those in the industry gain more benefits to promote themselves," he said. The seaplane has eight seats and it can fly over 4,000 ft. The height differs according to the weather and the cloud formation. SriLankan Airline has identified Sri Lanka's potential to be an eco-tourism destination and is expected to launch attractive packages such as the Cultural Triangle tour, Southern beach tour and the Hill Country tour. If a flight has four or more passengers the fare per passenger is US$ 100 one-way journey. US$ 150 is charged per passenger per one-way journey only from Katunayake to Trincomalee. SriLankan Airline will also offer special discounts to charter the seaplane. The charter fee is US$ 1,000 per flying hour irrespective of the number of passengers. SriLankan Air Taxi hopes to expand the fleet with two more seaplanes in order to cater to the tourist demand during the winter 2004/2005 season. Air Taxis are looking at a point in the Cultural Triangle to operate closer to the key tourist hotels in Sigiriya, Kandalama and Dambulla. At present the Cultural Triangle is served by the Hingurakgoda Airforce base. In addition Air taxis will operate to Nuwara Eliya within the next two months as there have been many requests from tourists and businessmen due to the long drive involved. The Air taxi operations team also hopes to conduct a survey at the Air force bases at Weerawila, Ampara and Batticaloa in order to determine the feasibility of operations to these air terminals. A landing spot is also targeted to serve deep south hotels at Dickwella, Tangalle and Hambantota and also the Surfers Paradise of Arugam Bay. The airline together with four of the top tour operators in the country hopes to have scheduled flights to the south beach areas providing convenient connections to international flights during the winter 2004/2005 season. |
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