Air Taxi Services offer major New Tourism Opportunities in Sri Lanka

SriLankan Airlines is expanding its unique domestic air taxi service, in which amphibious aircraft operate from lakes and waterways in provincial areas.

The modified aircraft enable the airline to offer for the first time scheduled tourist flights to a range of regional destinations which have unsuitable airfields or no airfields at all.

“To reach these destinations has always been a challenge, with road trips from the capital, Colombo, often taking up to seven hours,” said Ian Robinson, SriLankan Airlines Manager Australia and New Zealand.

“There has been no shortage of demand to travel – but without the infrastructure required to accommodate our jets or large turboprop aircraft, we needed to consider a whole new approach,” said Mr Robinson.

“Late in 2003, we tested an eight-seat Cessna Caravan aircraft, modified to land on water. It was an instant success, reducing travel time across the mountains from, in some cases, seven hours by road to a mere 35 minutes by air taxi.

“Not only have the air taxis eliminated the requirement for lengthy road trips to many key regional locations – they have also introduced the possibility of day trips, which were previously impossible, and delivered magnificent new sightseeing opportunities above the Sri Lankan highlands.”

The aircraft have also opened up the spectacular interior of Sri Lanka, which was unaffected by the Boxing Day tsunami, and offers enormous opportunities for tourism growth.

The airline’s first air taxi, the Cessna Caravan, was used to build a regional network of 10 destinations throughout Sri Lanka – but still the demand for travel continued to grow.

Now the airline has introduced two 15-seat De Havilland Turbo Otter aircraft, increasing significantly its capacity to serve provincial locations, and enabling the addition of more routes to the air taxi network, which is now a key division of SriLankan Airlines.

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