Civil Flights to Jaffna in Sri Lanka Restored

On October 17 this year, an ATR 72 regional aircraft belonging to Alliance Air, an Indian regional airline and a wholly owned subsidiary of the national carrier Air India, took off with a few passengers on board from Chennai International Airport located in Meenambakkam in Tamil Nadu. After a short duration flight lasting for just half an hour, the ATR 72 landed at Palaly airport which is located 20 kilometres North of Jaffna, a city that lies in the vicinity of the Northern region of Sri Lanka. Also on board were a few important personalities which included Ashwani Lohani, Chairman and Managing Director of Air India as well as C.S. Subbiah, the Chief Executive Officer of Alliance Air.

This event is of significance for a number of reasons. To begin with, it was the first international flight ever undertaken by Alliance Air. Also, quite coincidentally, it was the first international flight from India or any other airport to land at Palaly airport after it was upgraded with substantial investments by the Sri Lankan government. The upgraded airport was formally inaugurated by Maithripala Sirisena, President of Sri Lanka as an international airport. This is the third international airport in the country and at the inauguration ceremony, it was formally renamed as Jaffna International Airport. The inauguration ceremony was attended by Ranil Wickremesinghe, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Arjuna Ranatunga Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation as well as a number of other dignitaries. Taranjit Singh Sandhu, the High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka was also present.

The city of Jaffna is located literally in the Tamil heartland of Sri Lanka as the Northern as well as the Eastern regions of the island nation have a sizeable Tamil population. As a result of this, very strong cultural and familial relationships with India have been developed and sustained through the ages. In the 1960s and the 1970s, Jaffna enjoyed excellent aerial connectivity with South India that was provided by both Air India and Ceylon Airways that were operating air services between the two countries. Unfortunately, civil flights between Jaffna and Tamil Nadu, were discontinued in the late 1970s when the 30-year long civil war between the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for a separate homeland for Tamils intensified. On account of the internal turmoil that gripped the nation for several decades, all international operations from the airport at Palaly were discontinued. However, since the end of the civil war in Sri Lanka, the Tamil population has been demanding that the airport at Jaffna be reopened for international civil flights particularly to airfields in Tamil Nadu. After the end of the internal conflict in Sri Lanka, civil flights had begun to operate from Palaly airport with effect from 2002, but were restricted to the domestic sector.

The inaugural flight by the ATR 72 of Alliance Air to Jaffna International Airport has certainly paved the way for enhanced aerial connectivity between India and Sri Lanka. The government of Sri Lanka has already declared the airport at Batticaloa which is located on the East coast to be the fourth international airport in the country. This new international airport is likely to be opened for flights to and from India in not too distant a future. Direct flights from India to the two cities of Jaffna and Batticaloa is expected to boost tourism and trade in the areas dominated by the Tamil population. Both the Northern and Eastern provinces have pristine beaches and sites of historical significance that will attract tourists. Before Palaly was commissioned as an international airport, Sri Lanka had just two international airports namely Bandaranaike International Airport in Colombo and Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport at Hambanthota on the Southern coast. However, the latter has not yet become operational as no flights have been operating to or from this airport.

The plans of the civil aviation authorities of the two nations are to operate flights to provide aerial connectivity between Jaffna International Airport and major cities in South India which apart from Chennai, would include Trichy and Kochi as well. Both the governments have plans to extend aerial connectivity between Jaffna and other major cities in India such as Bengaluru, Coimbatore, Mumbai, Hyderabad and even all the way to the national capital New Delhi.

Finally, after 50 years, the impediments to restarting civil flights between India and neighbour Sri Lanka have been successfully demolished thus opening with it a new chapter in the 2,000-year-old relationship between the two nations.