Flying of kites near airports such as Ratmalana, Bandaranaike and Mattala airports could cause a disaster, Manager of the Ratmalana airport, Aruna Rajapaksa warned.

He explained that they have deployed a mobile vehicle to provide awareness to the public to not to fly kites or drones near the vicinity of airports as it could lead to an accident.

The Manager also added that according to the Ceylon Navigation Regulations of 1995, if any person wishes to fly any object including a kite, approval must be taken from the Civil Aviation authority in writing.

According to aviation law kites and drones cannot exceed a height of 300 meters within a five kilometer radius of an airport.

He elaborated that they have implemented such rules and regulations for the safety of the aircrafts. He added that use of coir type of cords for kites have posed a great threat to flights.

Mr Rajapaksa said that people should refrain from flying kites from areas such as Mattala, Katunayake, Jaffna and Batticaolva areas, despite awareness programs being held by the mobile vehicles, and loud speakers are  used to educate the public, people seldom follow their advice.

He said that both passenger flights and training aircrafts getting affected due to flying of kites. He added the lines which are similar to coir pose a threat to flights.

Mr Rajapaksa requested the general public to find separate areas to fly kites. He elaborated that a kite had entangled to a training aircraft at a height of 700 meters, yet the trainee pilot had managed to avert the accident.

He added strong lines used by kites pose a great threat to both passenger and pilot training flights.