Cinnamon Air completes first year of scheduled domestic air services
View(s):Cinnamon Air, Sri Lanka’s premier domestic airline this week completed one year of scheduled passenger operations.
The airline, operating in code-share with SriLankan Airlines, conducted its first scheduled domestic flight between the Bandaranaike International Airport and Koggala Lagoon on 1st July 2013 and has grown significantly since then.
In a statement Cinnamon Air said over the past year it has carried over 4000 passengers on 900 scheduled flights to eight regular destinations and operated over 175 charter flights to 20 destinations.
Cinnamon Air's Cessna 208 Caravan Amphibian taking off from Water’s Edge, Colombo
Ten of the destinations served were water aerodromes, making Cinnamon Air the first domestic carrier to commercially serve such a diverse range of inland points in Sri Lanka and the only scheduled airline to do so out of Colombo’s international airport.
Commending the airline on its completion of one year of operations, H.M.C.Nimalsiri, Director General of Civil Aviation and CEO of the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka said, “With the use of correct equipment, aviation can cater to any community in any part of the island having different needs.
Floatplane is one such equipment which does not require dedicated land space but use existing water bodies to connect the affluent tourists and business traffic with remote areas with full of natural beauties where resources are scarce. The Civil Aviation Authority wholeheartedly appreciates the very bold initiative and courage shown by Cinnamon Air owner, Saffron Aviation for investing in the operation of inland floatplane services which is vital part for development of internal air transport network”.
Ajit Gunewardene, Chairman, Saffron Aviation (owners and operators of Cinnamon Air) and Deputy Chairman of John Keells Holdings said that, “The advent of scheduled services by Cinnamon Air has been widely applauded by the trade both locally and internationally, with many of the largest travel companies offering Sri Lanka in Europe and the Middle East featuring Cinnamon Air as an option to their customers. Whilst we are pleased that Cinnamon Air has reached this important milestone with encouraging numbers for a start-up service, we are cognizant of the fact that there is much more to be done to grow the awareness of the product and thereby passenger numbers, in order to achieve the challenging goals that the joint venture partners of Cinnamon Air envisioned at the outset”. We look forward to working with all stakeholders locally and internationally towards maintaining this vital offering in the overall tourism infrastructure of Sri Lanka”.
On future plans, Romesh David, Director, Cinnamon Air said, “The year ahead will see Cinnamon Air continuing to grow its offering with a range of innovative products and some interesting new destinations. This will include the launch of ‘Cinnamon Air Holidays’ a set of unique ‘fly/drive’ tour options covering large swathes of the country in a short period of time, ‘Explorer’s Pass’ for visitors wanting multiple flight options with no restrictions and the creation of a water aerodrome in the beautiful Dutch Bay Lagoon at Kalpitiya to facilitate scheduled and charter flights to the northwest coast of Sri Lanka for the first time”.
Saffron Aviation is a joint venture between JKH, MMBL Leisure Holdings and Phoenix Ventures (parent of Phoenix Industries and the Brandix Group). The airline operates a fleet of two Cessna 208 amphibian aircraft and one Cessna 208B Grand Caravan aircraft, with scheduled services to key inland points in Sri Lanka.