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Helitours does it again; passengers taken on uninsured aircraft
View(s):Helitours, the Sri Lanka Air Force’s (SLAF) commercial passenger service, transports paying customers—including foreign tourists—on an uninsured Harbin Y-12 aircraft not certified for airworthiness by the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CAASL). This happens whenever its approved Xian MA60 planes are unavailable.
In doing so, the limited liability company is working outside the radar of the regulator and in defiance of repeated strictures to adhere to civil aviation rules and regulations, authorities said. CAASL confirmed this week that it has not granted approval to Helitours to substitute the uninsured Y-12, which operates under a military call sign, for its licensed passenger transport planes at any time.
Such a flight was operated on Monday to Jaffna. Passengers booked to travel on the 35-seater MA60 were telephoned on Sunday night and informed that Helitours will fly the Y-12 to Jaffna the next morning and that it was uninsured. They were told they will have to sign an indemnity form and asked whether they would still make the trip.
The 12-seater Y-12 is not listed on the Helitours Air Operator Certificate (AOC) as a civil aircraft. It does not, therefore, have a Certificate of Airworthiness from the CAASL. These details were not disclosed. Upon questioning, the caller said the regular MA60 had been reserved for “urgent State business”. Those passengers who did not wish to take the flight were offered a full refund. The others signed an indemnity form.
It was not immediately clear whether every passenger was notified of the change. A group of Japanese tourists travelling with their translator/guide had also signed the English language form. None of these measures—getting prior consent, tendering a refund or bearing upon passengers to sign an indemnity form—signifies that Helitours is flying the Y-12 within the framework of civil aviation regulations. The company is very much in the breach, CAASL said.
“It is not authorized to operate aircraft which are not listed (in this case, a military aircraft which even does not have airworthiness certificates issued by CAASL) in the Air Operator Certificate,” H M C Nimalsiri, Director General of Civil Aviation, told the Sunday Times via email. “We have consistently insisted that Helitours shall have a valid insurance cover to fulfil its actual and potential obligations in case of an accident or serious incident that qualifies for payment of compensation to crew, passengers or third parties in pursuance of applicable legislation,” he said,
“If Helitours gets fare paying passengers to sign an indemnity form, it is entirely wrong and against the civil rules and procedures,” Mr Nimalsiri emphasised.“I also wish to inform you that, consequent to a decision taken at the recent meeting of the Cabinet Committee of Economic Management, I have already informed Helitours in writing that it shall abide by all civil rules and procedures, without any distinction, if it wishes to operate civil flights.”
The CAASL has not granted approval for Helitours to get an indemnity form signed by passengers, he reiterated. The form reads: “In consideration of my being carried at my request as a passenger in an aircraft owned and/or possessed by the Government of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and in charge and in the management of the Commander of the Sri Lanka Air Force or an authorised officer or airman of the said Air Force and maintained and operated by and on behalf of the Government, hereby agree and undertake that neither I, nor my heir, executors, and administrators will make or be entitled to make any claim for damages against the Government of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka or against the said Commander or any other officer or any airman of the said Air Force or any public servant employed by the Government of Sri Lanka in respect of any loss or injury howsoever caused to me (including injury resulting in death) or to property owned or possessed by me, sustained while or in consequence of my being carried (which shall include but not be limited to any injury, loss or damage, sustained on board the aircraft or in the course of any of the operations of embarking or disembarking and whether it be occasioned by the negligence or any other act or omission of any employee of the Government or any other person).
“I further state that I undertake to be carried as a passenger at my risk and that no compensation in respect of any such injury, loss or damage will be paid to me or my heirs, executors, administrators, by the Government or by any of its employees. I also agree (and this agreement shall bind my heirs, executors and administrators) that I shall indemnify the Government of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka or its aforesaid employees in respect of any loss, or damage suffered by the said Government or its employees or in respect of any claim made by any third party against the Government arising out of any act or default on my part during or in connection with the said carriage.”
The CAASL said indemnity forms are typically handed out only in the case of carriage of people due to natural disasters or rescue operations of national importance and with the objective of saving the lives of the public. “If an aircraft is operated by the military for carriage of passengers for hire or reward, the requirements stipulated in the Civil Aviation Act No 10 of 2010 shall be conformed to without any variation,” Mr Nimalsiri said. “Accordingly they (aircraft operators) have to have valid insurance instead of getting indemnity form signed by passengers.”
The Sunday Times first exposed a series of violations by Helitours in 2015. The company then worked with CAASL to acquire certificates of airworthiness for its two MA60s and set up a streamlined operation using these two aircraft with three cabin crew, an inflight snack and safety demonstrations. Multiple sources said, however, that if both MA60s are not available (for reasons including being reserved for State use or grounding) the Y-12 is deployed. It was not immediately clear how many times this has happened. Air Force Spokesman Gihan Seneviratne said it did not take place“as a practice” but could not provide statistics.
Mr Nimalsiri said the CAASL found it “very difficult” to enforce civil rules on the Air Force as it fell under the Sri Lanka Air Force Act—despite Helitours being a limited liability company and carrying out activities that were within the purview of the Civil Aviation Act—which did not require the regulator’s approval or licence. This is a grey area.
“The CAASL can effectively impose civil rules and conduct surveillance on any operator other than the Air Force to ensure their compliance with the prevailing rules and approved procedures as other operators cannot operate without the approval or licence from the CAASL,” he explained. Being a military organisation charged with surveillance of the country’s airspace, the Air Force has powers to operate flights for the State’s defence under any conditions acceptable to it. The CAASL has no legitimate right to interfere with such operations—not, however, commercial civilian flights—and stop them.
“Also, as SLAF is in charge of security surveillance of Sri Lanka’s airspace, all civil operators shall get air defence approval from SLAF and this requirement is not applicable to SLAF,” Mr Nimalsiri said. “Due to this independence that SLAF is having, the CAASL does not know as to what time, what aircraft, what aerodrome, etcetrra, it uses for operation of flights.”
On certain occasions, CAASL inspectors even have to obtain prior permission to enter some of Helitours’ premises used in civil operations for the regulator’s surveillance activities on account of security sensitivities that the Air Force usually brings up. “No other operator in this country has such rights and privileges,” Mr Nimalsiri said. “Hence, we have a positive control over all of them but not with SLAF. No other operator does this sort of violations. However, the SLAF does what it wishes to do for reasons that I mentioned.”
The Air Force, when questioned, was unapologetic. Despite multiple sources stating that the MA60 scheduled to fly to Jaffna on Monday (the other was grounded) was unavailable due to it being reserved for State use, Wing Commander Gihan Seneviratne, spokesman, said it was cancelled because of unserviceability.
“As you can appreciate, we consider any unserviceability, regardless of criticality, reason to ground aircraft used for civilian flights,” he said. “I also wish to bring up the fact that the service we offer is a service. The SLAF does not make profits from the proceeds, all of which are credited to the State.” A return ticket to Jaffna is nearly Rs 30,000.
“Most airlines, if they are compelled to cancel for reasons of unserviceability, do not have the option of offering an alternative,” he continued. “We do and we give that, on rare occasions, for the passengers to opt or not.” It was not clear how Helitours, which is a private company, can exclude itself from civil aviation regulations on account of it providing a service.
Captain Seneviratne said it was on “rare occasions” that they offered passengers booked to fly on the Air Force’s Helitours flights the “option of flying an alternate aircraft instead of simply informing them that the aircraft is not available, as is the practice of other airlines”. He also claimed the Government does not reserve planes: “When the requirement is intimated the SLAF will assign suitable aircraft.”
The Sunday Times asked the spokesman whether Helitours had been advised it would be acceptable to fly paying passengers on the uninsured Y-12 if it called in advance and got their consent. “The option of flying in an alternate craft is just that, an option for people who have booked a flight and who cannot reschedule the journey for some reason,” he said. “If they wish to, we offer an alternate aircraft, or we offer them a refund or rescheduling.”