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The peak period for over-flights crossing Sri Lankan airspace has just ended. Starting in
late December and ending around mid-March, a stream of charter flights
by Indonesian and Saudi Arabian carriers as well as a few by Singapore
Airlines clog the airways, creating a veritable traffic jam in the
sky, as they take Haj pilgrims to and from Mecca. With up to
70 flights a day, this three-month period is the highest revenue
generator from air traffic control services provided to over-flights
for the whole year. "All aircraft
converge over us," explained Sherina Casseer, a senior air
traffic controller and supervisor at Airport and Aviation Service
(Sri Lanka) Ltd. (AASL). "Fortunately for us we're situated
in a central location - Haj pilgrims over fly Colombo from Indonesia
to Saudi Arabia and back." From a look
at a map of the air routes crossing over Colombo it is easy to see
why the island has potential to become an aviation hub. Known as
airways these routes are the best way for aircraft to cross from
east to west and north to south. Many of them converge over Colombo
including the M300 air corridor, taking aircraft from Singapore
to the Middle East and on to Europe, and P570 from Indonesia to
Jeddah taking Haj pilgrims. These along
with one from Madras are among the busiest but new air routes are
being planned, including one south of Trivandrum, and they are expected
to ease the congestion, said Casseer who works at the Ratmalana
Area Control Centre and Flight Information Centre. This monitors
aircraft activity above 10,000 feet in what's known as the Colombo
Flight Information Region and maintains what's called 'positive'
control of the airways, with pilots taking instructions from air
traffic controllers. Air traffic
controllers must maintain the minimum separation between aircraft
to ensure there are no collisions and provide flight information
such as other traffic, weather and danger areas to be avoided such
as military firing ranges "This
is a very heavy period," said Casseer. "To handle this
heavy traffic no one else is taxed as much as the area control centre.
The traffic increases to a level where we can hardly manage." The centre
responds by having controllers work shorter hours and increasing
the staff on duty, because of the stressful nature of the job and
the enormous responsibility on their hands - the lives of hundreds
of passengers passing unseen high above in the sky. Maintaining
the required separation between aircraft when traffic is heavy is
a difficult task - made even more difficult since all the aircraft
prefer to fly at the same altitude. Controllers must ensure they
keep aircraft at least a thousand feet and 10-15 minutes apart. Sometimes decisions
must be taken in seconds since fast-moving passenger jets can cover
eight miles a minute. "Pilots don't like to lose even a minute
- no one wants to descend from the optimum flight level which is
the most cost-effective," said Casseer. "Pilots grumble
when asked to make deviations," said senior air traffic controller
Rohan Manukulasuriya. This is not infrequent since aircraft tend
to meet when airways cross each other as they do over Colombo. Big aircrafts
weighing over 260,000 kg are charged $250-300 per over flight. At
peak periods over flights generate more than a million rupees a
day and are an important and regular source of foreign exchange
but the rarefied world of air traffic control is little seen by
the public despite the vital service it performs. AASL usually
earns about Rs. 700 million a year, according to Airports and Aviation
Authority of Sri Lanka chairman Hemasiri Fernando. But revenue fell
last year to Rs. 450 million because it did not charge landing fees
for nine months after the July 2001 terrorist attack on the airport.
This was an effort to get carriers to resume flights that were withdrawn
when airlines were hit by heavy war-risk insurance premiums after
the attack. The Ratmalana
Area Control Centre can monitor activity up to 200 miles through
a radar on top of Pidurutalagala. There are plans to shift the Area
Control Centre from Ratmalana to Katunayake. Early morning
is the busiest time for air traffic control at Katunayake whose
radar centre handles approach control of flights to and from the
Bandaranaike International Airport up to a range of 60 miles. They
usually handle 80 movements a day, international flights and numerous
air force flights, according to air traffic controller Jude Peiris
who operates from the control tower that provides an excellent view
of all aircraft movements on the apron. These movements are another
source of foreign exchange revenue. Landing fees, for instance, are charged according to the weight of the aircraft, said chief air traffic controller Ranjith Silva. So a Boeing 474 jumbo jet weighing 450,000 kg pays about $1,600 per landing. There are no parking charges for the first three hours but thereafter, an aircraft is charged 10 percent of the landing fee for every hour it sits on the tarmac. There are other fees such as marshalling charges. "Nights
are heavy. We usually have over 40 over flights a day with 30 in
the night," said Silva. It takes several
years to train and bring up to standard an air traffic controller
and the centre has been short-staffed for some time, said senior
air traffic controller Mahesh de Silva. He described as a "big
blow" the loss of trained and experienced senior controllers
who migrated. At Ratmalana the staffing shortage is more acute and
controllers are compelled to work overtime. Lack of parking
space at the BIA means that there are restrictions such as the number
of technical landings - for refuelling or repair - if not for which
more money could be earned. During the tourism season some airlines,
notably non-scheduled Russian charter flights, prefer to park at
BIA for up to 10 days, Mahesh de Silva said. The BIA now has 17
parking bays in the main apron and four for domestic or Sri Lanka
registered cargo operators. Under the planned modernisation project
the number of parking bays will be increased to 25. De Silva looks
forward to the day when the apron is enlarged and he can accommodate
more aircraft. AASL chairman
Hemasiri Fernando said an urgent requirement was an alternative
runway about 150 miles away for planes to land in case they cannot
use the BIA because of an emergency such as bad weather. Aircraft
now use south Indian airports as their alternative runway but this
means planes have to carry excess fuel and hence is a more costly
exercise. The alternative runway has to be in a different climatic
zone - preferably in the dry zone - and Weerawila and Hingurakgoda
are considered the best locations, Fernando said. This is expected
to cost about $50 million. Handling facilities at the BIA are also
being upgraded in a project that is expected to cost around $70
million and funded by Japan. "This is a very urgent requirement
because by 2004 according to projected passenger traffic we are
going to face many operational difficulties because of the lack
of modern facilities and limited space," Fernando said. The BIA now
handles about 2.7 million passengers and 100,000 MT of cargo a year.
By 2010 this is projected to increase to five million passengers
and 270,000 MT of cargo and again to double to 10.5 million passengers
and 733,000 MT of cargo by 2020. Currently,
studies are underway on plans for a second runway at Katunayake,
although this is not an immediate requirement because the existing
one is under utilised, Fernando said. Rather it is required as part
of the effort to make the BIA a regional hub for passengers and
cargo. A site about
1.2 - 2 km north of the present runway is being considered for which
the air base would have to be shifted. The entire
project, which includes a new terminal between the two runways,
is estimated to cost about $1.5 billion. "This is a very long term project because current and forecast passenger volumes are not enough to require that kind of investment," Fernando said. Cathay Pacific voted airline of the year Cathay Pacific
Airways has been voted "Airline of the Year" in the 2003
Skytrax survey. In addition, Cathay Pacific was also named "Best
Airline - Asia" and "Best Airline - Transpacific"
for the second consecutive year. Skytrax Research is an UK-based consulting firm, which conducts the world's largest passenger survey. According to survey comments from Skytrax: "Despite difficult times the airline industry faced throughout 2002, customers made their opinions known. Cathay Pacific drew considerable support for the quality of staff service standards, and scored very highly for their front-end premium products." Cathay Pacific has also been recently voted as Hong Kong's premier company in terms of high quality services and products in a poll conducted by the Far Eastern Economic Review in a recent survey. Facing challenges of water resources A training seminar
on "Facing Challenges of Water Resources in the 21st Century
- Scientific Perspective" will be held on April 23 in Colombo. It is organized
by the College of Chemical Science of the Institute of Chemistry,
Ceylon to coincide with 2003 being declared the UN year for freshwater. It is ideally
suited for agriculturists, research scientists, university academics,
industrialists, postgraduate students and technical staff engaged
in testing water quality and sampling of water. It is another
one in a series of continuous education programme for profession
development. The resource
persons are Prof. H.D. Gunawardena, University of Colombo, Prof.
C.M. Maddumabandara, Chairman, Interim National Water Resource Authority,
Dr. M. Samad, Team Leader, WRIP, International Water Management
Institute, Dr. A.M. Mubarak, Director, Industrial Technology Institute,
Dr. Athula Seneviratne, Head, Department of Geology, University
of Peradeniya. B.S. De Silva, Director, Standardization Division,
Sri Lanka Standards Institute and Dr. Suren Wijekoon, Senior Lecturer,
Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Moratuwa. Malaysian firm to build housing for public servants Sri Lankan public
servants will soon have access to affordable housing as a result
of a new investment by Malaysia's Pembinaan Wincom Sdn Wincom, which
will begin this new project in partnership with the Ministry of
Public Administration. The scheme
involves the development of a low cost housing project worth $ 70
million that will soon be implemented. An agreement was signed between
Pembinaan Wincom Sdn and the Board of Investment on Wednesday. Dato
Abdul Azim Mohamed Zabidi, Chairman, Bank Simpanan Nasional and
Arjunna Mahendran, Chairman/ Director General, BOI signed this agreement.
Also present were a large delegation from Malaysia, representatives
from the Sri Lankan private sector, officials from the Ministry
of Public Administration and the BOI. The Malaysian company has already a lot of experience in this area having already worked on similar projects in Malaysia and in India. The units will initially be built in Karapitiya and in Baddegama in the southern Galle District as a pilot project and if successful, would be expanded to other parts of the country. Pembinaan Wincom will begin construction of 550 units in Karapitiya and 1,500 units in Baddegama. There have been 8,000 applications so far from public servants.
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