Updated civil aviation regulations presented to House

By Ashwin Hemmathagama

Our Lobby Correspondent

Updated regulations were introduced recently at Parliament, enabling the Civil Aviation Authority to conduct investigations into any accidents or incidents during air navigation.

The regulations would cover events that could take place within the territory of Sri Lanka, in respect of any aircraft registered in Sri Lanka or in respect of any aircraft registered in Sri Lanka, but investigation is not conducted by any other nation due to territorial problems.

Minister of Civil Aviation Priyankara Jayaratne identified air transportation as a strategic sector, which could be manipulated to bring in additional revenue to Sri Lanka on par with the ‘Mahinda Chinthana’ political manifesto.

“Other than two passengers falling out on two occasions from parked aircrafts, any serious accidents were not reported after 2006. An audit was conducted by the International Civil Aviation Organisation in 2010. They have rated us as the best in terms of safety in the South Asian region, fourth in Asia Pacific, and 19th in the world. New regulations are required to maintain high standards as well as to compete. There are almost 15,500 passenger aircraft in operation around the world. We expect this to increase by 110 per cent to reach 32,550 passenger aircraft within the next 20 years. If you quantify, 35 per cent of this will be added to fleets in the Asia Pacific region,” he said.

According to Minister Jayaratne, 6.1 million passengers were reported at Bandaranaike International Airport last year, which is an increase of 17 per cent compared to 2010.

“The total turnover of aircraft reported at Bandaranaike International Airport has reached 43,454 during this period. Our target is to increase annual capacity to 12 million passengers within a short period of time. The respective infrastructure development will help us to reach this target along with new safety standards,” he added.

However, opposition legislator UNP MP Ajith Perera expressed different views, noting that such developments in the aviation sector were unwarranted at present given blunders such as the termination of the management agreement with Emirates as well as running Mihin Lanka with increased losses.

“Just because the President was denied the use of SriLankan aircraft at will, the management agreement with Emirates was terminated. Now, operations and maintenance of SriLankan Airlines has become a serious responsibility, which you have failed. Having a budget airline – Mihin Lanka – is a lost cause. If you wanted to provide subsidised tickets to pilgrims to India and migrant workers to Middle East, it could have been executed through SriLankan Airlines. The name itself Mihin Lanka shows the creation aimed at fulfilling personal agendas. This is different from Richard Branson naming his carrier Virgin,” said Perera.