Double anniversary in aviation and transportation

Lloyd Rajaratnam Devarajah

February 28, 2010 marks two epoch-making events in Sri Lanka’s history in the fields of overseas transportation and aviation.

On this day, 72 years ago (February 28, 1938), the formal opening of the Ratmalana Airport for civil aviation and the official inauguration of the first direct regular airmail service under the British Empire Air Mail Scheme (AMS) from Ceylon (as Sri Lanka was then called), was performed by the then Governor Sir Andrew Caldecott.

It should be noted that aviation was something yet new, as a means of overseas transportation. The first successful flight in heavier-than-air mechanically propelled airplane by Orville Wright, took place 35 years earlier on December 17, 1903. His plane rose (from the base of Kill Devil Hill, 4-miles South of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, U.S.A) 120 feet in 12 seconds. The fourth experimental flight that same day by Orville’s elder brother Wilbur, rose 852 feet into the air for 59 seconds and the plane was patented on May 22, 1906.

Ratmalana Airport building. ANCL File Photo

Major (later Sir) John L. Kotelawala the then Communications and Works Minister, who played a dynamic role in modernising transportation and communication, then called upon Governor Caldecott to declare open the new Ratmalana Airport. After the opening ceremony, Governor Caldecott handed over “three official mail bags containing messages to the Secretary of State for the Colonies and the Governors of Bombay and Madras, to Capt of the American Waco 4-Seater cabin plane of Messrs Tata Sons Ltd., of Bombay, India.

“The plane which was provided with tricycle landing gear was piloted by Tatas’ Chief Operational Manager Capt. B. N. Figgins,” according to the Posts and Telecommunications Administration Report of 1937-38 by J.R. Walters, the Postmaster General and Director of Telecommunications.

As the plane took off that historic day at 9 a.m sharp, two white pigeons signifying the earlier carriers of the post (the Pigeon Post), were released by a member of the then flourishing Aero Club of Ceylon.

After the inauguration ceremony, several “Tiger Moth” planes of this pioneer Aero Club staged a fly-past, to the delight of the large and distinguished gathering present, at which Governor Caldecott took the salute.

The State acquired 240 acres of coconut plantations, four years before this opening, for the construction of a 600-yards long airstrip. It should be again noted that the first plane landed on this new air strip on November 27, 1935, long before the official opening in 1938 and the first direct airmail was despatched, 14 months before the inauguration of the EAM scheme.

The first direct airmail was despatched from Ceylon on Christmas Eve (December 24) 1936-the same day the first direct mail came from Europe, all the way by air. This was possible when Messrs Tatas made a goodwill flight to Colombo, bringing the Christmas mail from Britain and other Western Countries, for the first time-the time taken being seven days.

The United States of America Internal Air Service was the first regular air mail service, made use of by the Ceylon Postal authorities for the transportation of mail posted in the Island. This was in September 1928 and two months later, in November, an airmail service for the conveyance of mail was used by Ceylon-between Marseilles in France and Britain.

The first Airmail left Colombo on Sunday, June 23, 1929 for despatch by air from Karachi (then part of British India) to Britain, Egypt, Palestine and Iraq, the service taking 14 1/2 days-a gain of only 1 1/2 days-as compared with 16 days taken, if sent all the way by sea.

Airmail letters were accepted in Ceylon for onward transmission to some selected countries in Europe in October 1929 and to Iran and other Persian Gulf countries, the following year. In 1931, mail was accepted for despatch by air to East Africa.

Until the inauguration of the EAM scheme, all mail for conveyance by the various air services had been despatched by train from Colombo via Talaimannar Pier to Karachi, the journey taking six days, before they were sent by air, from there.

When the Indian Government opened an Air Service between Madras and Karachi in 1932, the local postal authorities began sending the mail for air transportation, first by train to Madras via Talaimannar Pier which was only two days by rail before being transferred onto a plane.

Since 1929, the air services through out the world began to develop and by the end of 1937, Ceylon had extended its airmail services to almost all important countries in the world. Direct contact was subsequently established with almost all countries whilst to countries off the main trunk route by air, mail was transported by surface route to or from the nearest air terminal.

With the inauguration of the British EAM scheme, - 72 years ago, a regular service by air between Colombo and Karachi was available-both for the transportation of passengers and the carriage of mail. This service also linked up the island with India and the great Southampton-Marseilles-Baghdad-Karachi-Delhi-Calcutta-Rangoon-Bangkok-Penang-Singapore-Australia air route which girdled almost two-thirds of the earth’s surface.

The EAM scheme was inaugurated with the mail despatched by Imperial Airways on the East-bound service, from Britain on February 23, 1938 and in the West-bound direction, by the despatch from Ceylon on February 28, 1938. A “feeder” service provided by Tatas which was under the joint controls of the Ceylon and the Indian Governments, formed the link between Colombo and Karachi. This service established connection at the Karachi airport with the Imperial Airways service.

Owing to the Colombo-Karachi feeder service, it became necessary to increase the postage rate to British Empire countries participating in the “All-Up” service (by air all the way), from 9 cents per ounce to 20 cents per 1/2 ounce for letters and from 6 cents to ten cents for postcards. Walters, the Postmaster-General in the Administration Report states “the rate appears to be the highest rate in force in any Empire country served by the Scheme. All first class mails (ie) articles paid for at the letter rate and postcards to these countries, are despatched by air.”

Australia and certain other countries in the East and Far East did not joint the EAM scheme at first. Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Western Pacific islands joined the Scheme by the latter part of July 1938. HongKong joined the Scheme in September of that year. As the air service became very popular, the frequency of the despatch of airmail from Colombo was increased while the charges were substantially reduced.

The EAM service was suspended following the commencement of World War II on September 3, 1939. Only letters and postcards on which airmail “Surcharge” of Rs 1/= per 1/2 ounce had been paid, were despatched by air. Two days after the commencement of the war, all countries in the EAM Scheme reverted to the old system of “surcharge airmail” service-the sea route being reintroduced as the normal means of despatch of mail.

Imperial Airways placed all their aircraft and equipment at the disposal of the British Secretary of State for Air, at the outbreak of World War II. The British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC)-now called British Airways (BA)-established in November 1939, took over Imperial Airways on April 1, 1940.

Ratmalana was selected as the site for the Island’s first International Airport because of its easy accessibility. If originated in the Government’s need for a large airstrip near the capital for use of airplanes. Until the early 1960s, Ratmalana was the primary airport for overseas-bound Commercial aircraft flights.

It was selected also because of its easy access to the capital by a broad thoroughfare, close to a railway station and the big hotels. Ratmalana was also ideally situated in that “the approaches to the runways were free from obstructions such as powerlines, smokestacks, tall buildings and radio towers. Wind direction which is a vital factor in the selection of an airport site and layout of the runways since aircraft take off and land into the wind-also made the Ratmalana Airport ideally suited,” report stated.

At the height of World War II in the early 1940s, Allied military came to the island and established airstrips at Katunayake, Vavuniya, China Bay near Trincomalee, Palaly near Kankesanturai in the North. A sea-plane base was also established in Koggala in the South, for the operation of military aircraft.

The present International Airport-with a modern Terminal building at Katunayake, was established in 1968, with the generosity of the Canadian Government.

Ratmalana had to be virtually abandoned-with the giant strides made in the field of aviation-as the immediate vicinity was getting thickly populated and congested, with hardly any room for expansion and development of the airport.

Today, nearly 20 International Airlines operate in and of Katunayake Airport whilst Ratmalana has been virtually relegated into a military airport with restricted civilian domestic flights, operated by local carriers.