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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.
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