Aviation fuel, domestic air fares to reduce drastically

Aviation Fuel charges in Sri Lanka and the domestic air ticket charges will drastically come down in the coming months said Minister of Ports, Shipping and Aviation Nimal Siripala de Silva at a special press conference held at the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CAASL) in Katunayake on Friday in view of Sri Lanka Aviation Day.

The Minister said that the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) had the monopoly of selling aviation fuel to both local and foreign airlines. “We have now opened the market for international suppliers and they will soon commence issuing aviation fuel at competitive rates soon. “This will result in prices coming down.”

The construction of oil tanks capable of storing fuel of 24,000 liters each at Colombo Port and Ratmalana Airport has already started.

Asked by Daily News as to why domestic return airfare to Jaffna is around 50,000 while a Colombo Chennai ticket having the same flying time is around 60,000 he said this was because of a high insurance passengers had to pay. “We will soon reduce this and the result would be a lower domestic air ticket.”

Asked to comment on the SriLankan restructuring progress he said that several airlines have shown interest and the International Finance corporation too is assisting in this to ensure transparency. Minister de Silva said that the government was providing annual handouts of around USD 150 million to uphold the national airline and the country’s pride but under the present scenario this cannot continue. “This was a mistake the government made.”

The Minister said that a key condition in the restructuring is retaining the existing SriLankan staff. Several new airlines will start flying to Sri Lanka and a new air link between Colombo and Israel too would be opened soon.

The Minister also disclosed that the Japanese government and the Japan international Corporate Agency (JAICA) has assured that the stalled Bandaranaike International Airport terminal 2 development will commence in September allowing large aircraft like A380 to land.

The Minister also said 16 e- gates would be installed from this year and the BIA airport will be completely operated on e- gates by 2024.

Meanwhile Vice President International Transport Association (IATA) Philip Goh said that in May they confirmed that Sri Lankan skies are 92% safe following a 11-day scrutiny of the country’s aviation security systems.

He said that they are also assisting Sri Lanka to be “Smart AirPort” soon.