Lankan private investor gets licence to provide aircraft line maintenance services at BIA

 A Sri Lankan private investor has qualified to provide aircraft line maintenance services to foreign airlines servings Sri Lanka at Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) for the first time, Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CAASL) said.

It said that the Ceylon Aeronautical Services (Pvt.) Ltd (CAS) was certified by the CAASL to provide line maintenance facilities at BIA after fulfilling the necessary requirements recently.

The main responsibility of the line maintenance certification is to certify that the aircraft is fit to fly to its intended destinations when departing from BIA.

The Aircraft Engineering Division of SriLankan Airlines and a few other foreign airlines are currently providing the line maintenance facility for approved foreign airlines flying to Sri Lanka and SriLankan Engineering contributes to the national economy with earnings in foreign currency through this business.

The entry of CAS will be a catalyst to the national economy whilst also generating new employment opportunities for many Sri Lankans.

CAS is already certified to conduct structural repairs and Non-Distractive Testing (NDT) for foreign and local aircraft and the facility is situated at the Koggala Export Processing Zone.

When the State Minister of Aviation and Export Zone Development D.V. Chanaka visited the aircraft structural repair facility at Koggala, the initial proposal was made by CAS for opening an aircraft line maintenance facility at BIA.

The Application submitted by CAS was scrutinised by the Civil Aviation Inspectors of CAASL by considering the organisational structure, availability of qualified and well trained staff, instruments/equipment and other required facilities for the certification under the guidance of Capt. Themiya Abeywickrama, the Director General of Civil Aviation and Chief Executive Officer of CAASL and the leadership of Saman Gunawardena, the Deputy Director General (Flight Safety Regulations) of the CAASL.

Once the necessary requirements were met CAS was issued with the requisite certificate by the Airworthiness section of CAASL to provide aircraft line maintenance facilities at BIA.