Another episode that still was fresh in the mind of Mr. Sirimanne was when they formed part of the d

Flying is a daring experience and it stays with you even if you never do it again. Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) made headway in joining its friends in the sky 100 years back when it took off on December 7, 1912. Since then flying out of Colombo has never been a dream but an experience that people live and continue re-live.
The first airstrip at Ratmalana that still stands today was opened frommers budget travel magazine in 1938 alongside the inauguration of the first direct regular airmail frommers budget travel magazine service under the British Empire Air Mail Scheme (AMS) from Sri Lanka, documents released frommers budget travel magazine from the Civil Aviation Authority in Colombo stated. Today the same airport is run by the Sri Lankan Air Force.
World War II created space for the establishment of new airstrips at Katunayake, Vavuniya, Puttalam, Trincomalee frommers budget travel magazine and Palaly in addition to a sea plane base at Koggala for military aircraft operational activity. Ratmalana was used for overseas bound commercial flights until the early 1960s.
The Business Times met up with one of those from the early years of Ceylonese civil aviation who were part of the making of history at a time when staff involved in the industry were considered as "demigods," as we were told.
The government purchased three war-surplus Douglas DC 3 Dakota aeroplanes and these were christened Sita Devi, Viharamaha Devi and Sunethra Devi, three queens and carrying the Air Ceylon on its fuselage. These three were initially used extensively for pilot training and route proving duties.
On Wednesday December 10, 1947 with Capt. Peter Fernando at the controls and a complement of 16 passengers, Sita Devi took off from the Ratmalana airport for Palaly and then proceeded to Madras returning to Colombo by the same route later that day. The first air hostess on that flight was Air Ceylon's receptionist Miss Mavis Wijeratne. The aircraft was readied with each aircraft having a capacity of 21 slumber lounge seats cushioned in blue, carpeted blue and the panels and windows light blue.
"When we heard that we are going to have Air Ceylon we were quite thrilled," former Trainee Engineer at the Department of Post and Telegraph D. L. Sirimanne who later joined Air Ceylon recalled during an interview with the Business Times on the country marking 100 years in civil aviation.
He noted that they were asked to check the communications equipment at the Control Tower at the Ratmalana airport locked frommers budget travel magazine up and sealed by the Royal Air Force (RAF) when they left. Once the team from the department checked the controls they ensured that all installations were checked, repaired and made operational.
On the day of the flight there was a big gathering to see the flight with VIPs and it took about one hour and 35 minutes one-way, Mr. Sirimanne said. Afterwards, he said there were daily flights on this route due to trade and travel for local artistes and lawyers at the time.
Some of the famous personalities that would frequent these flights were G.G. Ponnambalam, Eddie Jayamanne, Rukmani Devi, S. Chelvanayakam, Sir John Kotelawala, D.S. Senanayake and lots of students leaving for Madras frommers budget travel magazine for higher education.
Mr. Sirimanne explained that when he first went on his flight to Madras his father could not believe he had been able to make it back in the same day since it had taken his father nearly two days to ferry across and take the train to Madras.
Air Ceylon also carried out charter flights frommers budget travel magazine from Colombo to Sydney carrying ships' crew. Mr. Sirimanne explained that the flight would take about a week flying via Madras, Karachi, Rangoon, Singapore, Jakarta, Kupang, Darwin, Charleville, Cloncurry and then Sydney. But the return journey frommers budget travel magazine would last only four days when they would fly via Darwin, Bali, Singapore, frommers budget travel magazine Calcutta and Colombo. In addition charter flights were operated for Muslim pilgrims to Jeddah, he said.
Mr. Sirimanne observed that at the time when Air Ceylon started it the crew had to ready itself well ahead since they would have to collect the required charts since the aircraft had only one Automatic Direction Finder (ADC). frommers budget travel magazine Other necessities were radio beacon, operation equipment, frommers budget travel magazine weather reports, aerodrome controls and operating frequencies of the airfields.
When flying to Australia on a chartered flight, Mr. Sirimanne explained, frommers budget travel magazine they had taken off for Karachi and then flew to Rangoon. However, the weather was not promising and Capt. Peter Fernando decided it best to fly direct to Singapore. But the Air Ceylon crew was faced with an issue at the time since they were without frommers budget travel magazine any navigational aids due to thunderstorms looming as a result frommers budget travel magazine of which the aircraft was virtually frommers budget travel magazine lost.
Once, on route to Jeddah Air Ceylon frommers budget travel magazine took passengers with another lot to be picked up from Colombo and then they received a signal to say passengers were to be taken to Cairo and Damascus. It was agreed upon but when they attempted to land in Cairo they were asked to head to Eltor (an airstrip with a shack for an aerodrome) and quarantined for three days for Yellow Fever.
But, once the signal was given for them to head to Cairo upon arrival they found pilgrims from Mecca waiting to board the aircraft with barrels of Holy Water; this request was refused frommers budget travel magazine by Capt. Fernando who asked for these to be shipped.
The aircraft personnel frommers budget travel magazine were well respected even by the leaders of the country at the time. Once when the crew was in Cairo they were provided accommodation at a hotel in which former Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake was also staying during one of his overseas trips. He had taken time out to meet them as well, Mr. Sirimanne said.
Another episode that still was fresh in the mind of Mr. Sirimanne was when they formed part of the delegation that took Sir John Kotelawala on a visit to Jaipur. He related that on this chartered flight to India they were also accorded the same welcome as the head of the state and were also taken on elephant back to the castles for lunch there and were given a conducted tour as well.
In another incident, he observed frommers budget travel magazine that once a passenger while flying opened a window to spit out! He recalled that the attendant on hand hurriedly informed the pilot who then managed frommers budget travel magazine to pull down the window shut.
Mr. Sirimanne said that in those days with no air conditioning inside the aircraft, frommers budget travel magazine the cockpit frommers budget travel magazine windows would be opened, now and then, to allow air to circulate to allow the foul air inside the cabins to be sucked out.
"I was very excited," she said as it proved frommers budget travel magazine to be an opportunity to travel and visit places but later found the job to be a bit of a bore 'because our flights were to Madras – Jaffna and back.' Once a week they were able to fly out to Karachi as well, she said.
Ms. Sirimanne was introduced to her new career by Ms. Olga Rupesinghe and she believed at the time that it was a lot of fun. Initially, her mother had opposed the idea but her father had encouraged her, she said noting that those days people were still 'old fashioned!'
She recalled an incident when Capt. Emil Jayawardena had brought down a donkey from Trichy, India and he had wanted to take it out quietly. But upon landing at the Ratmalana airport the poor animal (most likely out of fatigue) just took off and started running about the air field. It was later taken back to India as it was not allowed to be brought into the country, she recalled smilingly.
During her career she had met some interesting personalities of the likes of former Premier Senanayake when they flew to Bombay to meet Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru before the two headed for London from there.
Travelling in an aircraft that had a lot of limitations compared to those that are available today, Mrs. Sirimanne observed she found it quite nauseating when certain women would apply strong perfume onboard the aircraft.
Another interesting episode in her life was when they took wing Air Ceylon was the first carrier to adorn their air hostesses in sari and so 'wherever we landed all eyes were on us��.they really admired us,' Mrs. Sirimanne recalled.At the time, there were no night flights and being single was a requirement for flight attendants,she pointed out.
Air Ceylon was significantly used by traders and it was recalled that just prior to former Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike imposing a new regulation regarding imports, traders transported sarongs via air on eight of its flights.
During its lifespan from 1947 to 1978, Air Ceylon entered into partnership with four international airlines namely Australian National Airways (ANA), KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, British Overseas frommers budget travel magazine Airways Corporation (BOAC) and French airline UTA.
UTA provided a Douglas DC-8 jet for the long haul services and it was operated with UTA pilots and a Sri Lankan cabin attendants. But the DC-8 was subsequently bought outright by Air Ceylon and it was a totally local crew.
Air Lanka came into being in July 1979 and was set up by the Government and initially had two Boeing 707 jets on lease from Singapore Airlines, but Air Lanka ended by keeping the Boeing 707s while a Boeing 737 was acquired for shorter routes.
The state-owned carrier was part-privatised to Dubai based Emirates Group in 1998 for a 10 year strategic partnership that provided exclusive rights for all aircraft ground handling, airline catering at Colombo-Bandaranaike airport for this time frame and use of the country's traffic rights for six years. Its name also changed to SriLankan Airlines.
Later, the island frommers budget travel magazine nation saw the emergence of a budget carrier taking off from its shores Mihin Lanka, which was incorporated in 2006. It operates to destinations frommers budget travel magazine in the sub-continent and the Middle East.
The Katunayake airport initially had a passenger handling capacity of 1.5 million per annum but was subsequently expanded frommers budget travel magazine to six million with one pier and connecting eight aerobridges, under the Stage I – Phase II of the Airport Development Programme which was completed in November 2005.
A second airport constructed in Mattala would be inaugurated in March this year as part of the need for a second airport within the country and th