Ravana’s aircraft (Dandu-Monara) & how the monkey force grounded it during the Seetha Devi conflict is legend. If it was real, once the machine was destroyed, Ravana would have regretted conflicting for the Indian girl than settling for local talent. May be he wouldn’t have if the aircraft was state property & not his own. “Waariyapola” (wa-riya-pola/ air-vehicle-port) has been the place where the machine was kept according to legend. USA took the lead in aircraft manufacturing starting early 1900s & by 1947 SL (Ceylon) got three DC-3 crafts to start “Air Ceylon” to restore the glory which ended with Dandu-Monara. Despite being the primary cause to ground their legendary craft, Sri Lankans named one of the DC-3s Seetha Devi & the others Viharamaha Devi & Sunetra Devi (Ref. Aviation history).

As per Kotte archives Sunetra Devi (a Tamil queen) was the sister of Ven. Veedagama Maithree & mother of king Parakramabahu VI of Sri Jayawardenepura who established the Sunetra Devi monastery at Pepiliyana & the Ratmalana monastery to train Buddhist monks. 700 years later in late 1940s Air Ceylon flights to Madras from Ratmalana via Jaffna had been popular & profitable. The airline had been stable as Australian National Airline (ANA) owned a 49% stake which transferred to KLM (Dutch Air) in mid 1950s. Later in the early 1970s UTA (Union de Transports) had partnered but with their departure by late 1970s Air Ceylon had declared bankruptcy giving birth to Air Lanka with the Peacock logo (Ref. Aviation history). Those who don’t analyze organizational conflict prevention from a theoretical approach may think that the Peacock reminiscing Ravana’s aircraft caused mega losses at Air Lanka & Srilankan airlines. Late Lalith Athulathmudali & others who impeached President Premadasa noted few other reasons among many in the impeachment document in 1991 (Ref. Impeachment).

Vision of LKY

Air Lanka was launched in 1979 during the Jayawardena rule. Prime Minister LKY of Singapore in his memories states that he offered help to modernize the airports & internal transport services when the new government took office. His vision for SL was to have efficient airports & train/ bus services to increase connectivity. He argues that it would have attracted international airlines with tourists & strengthened the economy. He viewed its unwise for SL to invest in an airline. One may think he wanted less competition for Singapore airlines but looking back his view seems logical. However, SL had requested help to launch the new airline & accordingly he had released Capt. Rakitha Wickramanayake to head Air Lanka. After nearly 45 years its inability to bear repair expenses & flight delays etc. are highlighted often. Going for less expensive affordable aircrafts such as China’s C919 (equal capacity as Boeing 737) & Indian aircrafts would be one option. It may ensure a minimum efficient fleet leaving more resources to energize airports, seaports & tourist friendly internal transportation as seen by LKY. That in turn will boost tourism which is the lowest hanging fruit. One objective of the Belt & Road initiative is to increase people connectivity & the Chinese have developed the C919 & AG600 which is the world’s largest amphibious aircraft (equal to Boeing 737 - Ref. Chinese sources).

Options & alternatives

The Hambantota port is experiencing management expertise of China Merchants Port holdings which manages more than 500 ports globally. Similarly Colombo port gets Indian expertise.  Airports also can be reorganized to increase efficiency with international partnerships & SL human resources. Some countries even outsource custom collection services to reputed international organizations & it’s a proven win-win practice. The expressways & rail network is in place. The need for efficient road/rail transport with minimal trade union interferences is being echoed by the public almost daily. Internal transport efficiency will directly benefit the tourist industry as well. At a time reorganizing Srilankan air is being discussed, senior crew member & sincere friend Yohan Ambrose suddenly departed leaving beautiful memories. SL has invested much to train the talented human resources at Srilankan. They can be utilized to reach economic prosperity along the vision of LKY. It seems one viable option.

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(Views expressed are personal).