Spark Air to fly from Feb. 2021

When Sri Lanka was having an investor appetite it was some rare occurrence in a time like this that a consortium of local and foreign investors would be launching what would be the country’s first comprehensive airline owned by the private sector. The airline will be named  as “Spark Air”.

“We have already inked agreements to acquire two A 330 aircrafts for the operation which is expected to take wings in early February 2021 after receiving IATA approval. Initially we will be handling cargo,” Head of Safety Management System, Capt. Uditha Danwatte said.

Spark Air will be basing their hub in Mattala Rajapaksa Airport and have already taken space for two hangers and for a cargo storage facility. “We plan to start recruitment by December and will be opening out our sales office in Colombo in January.” he added.

Outlining their plans he said that they will be initially launching flights to Asia and European destinations mainly targeting cargo since passenger operations are too early to commence due to the COVID pandemic, he said

As of now the airline has  identified 15 international destinations to be included in our radar which include Los Angeles. When the pandemic settles we plan to operate as a full service airline mainly targeting new destinations that are currently not serviced from Colombo.” he Danwatte said

He said that the management plans to take the two aircraft on dry lease since over 350 pilots and thousands of experienced airline crew are grounded due to COVID. “Similarly the management thought that this is also the best time to go in for airline leases since the conditions are very favorable.” he added.

A former pilot of the Sri Lanka Air Force with many bravery medals to his credit and then served SriLankan and Mihin Lanka he said that he was disappointed in the manner in which Mihin Lanka was shut down when it showed signs of turning around. “Similarly it was a very imprudent move to pull out Sri Lankan from profit making routes in Europe since most of these flights were operating with nearly 99 percent seat factor.”

Having joined Air Asia after the shutdown of Mihin Lanka he said that it was sad to see so many planes grounded due to the covid pandemic all over the world.

Danwatte together with his son, created aviation history by flying an Air Asia flight to Sri Lanka becoming the only father and son pilot combination to fly a foreign flag carrier to Colombo and back to Kuala Lumpur.

Further, the company is also having a plan to have a managing, repairing and overhauling aircrafts, service center    which is known as MRO project in Sri Lanka , which could provide more than 15000 jobs for the country. At present MRO services are not done in India and we could attract other airlines to offer such services, Danwatte said.