Sri Lankan Air Taxi expands operations
 

by Irangika Range

SriLankan Air Taxi, the domestic air service of SriLankan Airlines will expand its operations by flying to new destinations such as Dickwella, Sigiriya, Jaffna, Hatton and Kandy city limits focusing the promotion of eco-tourism potentials for the tourist industry in Sri Lanka.

Air Taxi Manager Herman Pereira told the Daily News most of passengers on air taxi are tourists mainly from European countries. "Therefore we have concentrated to commence Air Taxi operations targeting these European passengers in morning hours from the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) to Jaffna because most of the European flights arrive at the BIA in the morning.

This is a good opportunity for European passengers to enjoy the ride with a bird's eye view of the breathtaking scenery the Jaffna," Pereira said.

Air Taxi commenced its operations here in 2002 and it has recorded the significant growth for the past few years by carrying over 6000 passengers per year. The project is targeted at high spenders rather than those who visit on package holidays. This would be a good opportunity to increase tourist income. All destinations are popular among tourists and occupants of the industry gain more benefits to promote themselves," he said.

"Most of our local destinations can be reached a short time, which otherwise would take hours by land. SriLankan Air Taxi already has two seaplanes and destinations are BIA, Ratmalana, Katukurunda, Bentota, Koggala, Weerawila, Ampara, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Hingurakgoda and Trincomalee. It hopes to expand the fleet by accruing more seaplanes in order to cater towards tourist demand in the near future," he said.

It also provides special flight packages to the hill country, cultural triangle, and the southern coast, which are most popular sites among air taxi passengers. In addition, SriLankan Air Taxi also provides corporate and VIP charters overhead surveys of industrial sites and photography flights.

The Air Taxi offers a smoother and faster ride than other forms of transport. It has 14 seats and can fly between 2000 to 10,000 altitude.