SriLankan Airlines expands Air Taxi services

SriLankan Airlines’ air taxi service, called SriLankan Air Taxi, which took off in December 2003, has added two more destinations to its network. The air taxi now flies to Anuradhapura and Hingurakgoda in the north central province in addition to its four other destinations. 

The airline’s amphibious eight-seater, Cessna Caravan seaplane takes off from Sri Lanka’s international airport in Katunayake to the island’s top tourist spots like the historic city of Kandy, to the beaches of Koggala and Bentota in the south and Trincomalee on the East coast. The aero/waterdromes which the air taxi operates to are the Victoria Reservoir, Koggala Lake, Bentara River and China Bay airfield respectively. In Anuradhapura and Hingurakgoda, SriLankan Air Taxi uses air-fields for landing. Passengers from Colombo have the option of boarding the air taxi either from the Katunayake or Ratmalana airports to any destination. 

Koggala, Bentota and Kandy have proved to be the most popular destinations. The air taxi has already become popular with individual holidaymakers, local and foreign businessmen, NGOs, government officials and local residents because of the drastic reduction in travel time. 

The furthest destination - Trincomalee - is only 45 minutes flying time as compared to about seven to eight hours by road. Most destinations are of 30-minute duration. Flights are scheduled according to passenger requirements subject to the aircraft’s availability at the time. 

The air taxi provides an ideal opportunity for travellers to capture the beauty of Sri Lanka from an aerial view. Since travel time is so short, day excursions to almost any part of Sri Lanka are possible. 

SriLankan hopes to add more cities to its network of air taxi destinations. The airline also plans to launch attractive packages comprising air taxi rides across the island’s scenic routes.

These aircraft will cruise over the southern beaches, up into the hill country, and fly over the island’s Cultural Triangle and will be of one to two hours’ duration. The route will be from Colombo via Kitulgala across Gingathena into the hills of Nuwara Eliya 7000 ft. above sea level with its picturesque waterfalls Devon and St. Claire, over the Ramboda pass to Gampola where passengers can view the Mahaweli River in swell, and finally onto Kandy, and then Polonnaruwa and Hingurakgoda in the north central province.

A half hour journey with four or more passengers onboard costs US$ 100 per passenger. On certain flights, SriLankan offers special discounted fares, which are displayed on the air taxi microsite. It is also possible to charter the seaplane. The charter fee is US£ 1,000 per flying hour irrespective of the number of passengers.