Where have all the airlines gone?

The airlines that were famous during the last century are out of the skies now and new airlines have taken their place with some of them doing much better than their predecessors.

Let’s start off with wat happened here in Sri Lanka. The first commercial airline we had was Air Ceylon that put Sri Lanka on the map of the skies. Air Ceylon flew to Heathrow in London and to India. This airline was scrapped when the JR Jayewardene government came into power. The government established a new airline, AirLanka with a professional pilot, Capt. Rakkhitha Wikramanayake as its first Chairman.

Just prior to its inaugural flight, the then Ceylon Observer had a competition for children and the winners were taken on a flight round the island in a new Boeing 737. AirLanka became popular with many foreign travelers as the in-flight service was exceptionally good. This airline gave way to SriLankan Airlines, which later came into a collaborative arrangement with Emirates and was doing well until Emirates pulled out because of a misunderstanding in London which I do not have to elaborate on. Everybody knows what exactly happened. After this fiasco, an incompetent person was appointed to head the airline and he ruined it by using the airline as his private property!

In addition to SriLankan Airlines, a new airline was added which was named Mihin Lanka. This airline catered to passengers traveling within southeast Asia. This airline did not last long as it was running at a loss due to mismanagement, as is usual in Sri Lanka when incompetent persons are appointed to head organizations. The government decided to scrap this airline by amalgamating it with SriLankan Airlines.

The two best known American airlines flying internationally were Pan American Airlines, commonly known as Pan Am which was the largest and principal international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States, and Trans World Airlines(TWA). Pan Am claimed to be the world’s safest airline. While Pan Am ceased operations on December 4, 1991, TWA ceased operation on July 1, 2003.

Canada had two airlines, Air Canada and Canadian Airlines. Canadian Airlines, which was the second largest airline in that country after Air Canada ceased operations with effect from January 1, 2001.

India too had two international airlines, namely Air India and Indian Airlines. Air India, which was an Indian government concern was sold to Tata Sons and is now owned by Talace Private Limited, a special- purpose vehicle of Tata Sons. Indian Airlines ceased operations under its own name and merged with Air India on February 26, 2011.

The French airline, Union de Transports Aeriens (UTA) was an airline that used to have regular flights between Paris and Colombo. The in-flight service on this airline was reputedly the worst on flights from Colombo. UTA was the largest wholly privately owned airline in France. It ceased operations on December 18, 1992 when it was merged with Air France.

There are several airlines which used to have flights to Colombo from their own countries. But after the Covid 19 pandemic, they have apparently ceased to operate flights to Sri Lanka. Of these, the oldest operating airline in the world, KLM Royal Dutch Airline (Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij NV) which is the official flag carrier of the Netherlands. It is an airline which had been operating between Amsterdam and Colombo for a long time seems to be the most important airline that has ceased to operate here as earlier. Sri Lankans have also lost the opportunity traveling in a most reliable airline, Swissair. Royal Nepalese Airline, Indonesia’s Garuda, Cathay Pacific and Lufthansa are the other major airlines that do not operate here as earlier.

We hope these airlines would resume operations between their respective countries and Colombo.

HM NISSANKA WARAKAULLE