Tuesday 25th March, 2008 13 he multi-million dollar question in many peo- Tple’s minds today is whether SriLankan Airlines should go it alone. It was Lee Kuan Yew who said: “To know where you are going you have to know from where you came.” So this might be an opportune time to review the checkered and sad history of the national airline that started with great promise. Air Ceylon was launched in December 1947 using the reli- able workhorse Douglas DC-3 DC-3 aircraft. A group of tech- nically qualified World War II veterans along with hand- picked Ceylonese with work experience at home and in India formed the backbone of the new airline. Within a few months of its formation, in August 1948 an agreement was signed with Australian National Airways (ANA) to pro- vide Air Ceylon with technical assistance to operate the larger four-engine, long-range Douglas DC-4 Skymaster on internation- al services. This was seen as a less risky option than buying two relatively advanced and complex Lockheed Air Ceylon - Lockheed 1049 Super Constellations aircraft that Constellation formed part of Air Ceylon’s original plan. Experienced domestic and regional services line purchased a French Nord continued to be served by its 262 turboprop, which had no ‘old faithful’ DC-3 Dakotas. ‘fleet commonality’ with the When the Ceylon Air Academy Avro 748. In 1969, a Hawker closed down, all its aircraft Siddeley (D.H.121) Trident 1E were taken over by Air Ceylon. jetliner was acquired, and Can SriLankan With the airline under the regional services were extend- Ministry of Communications, ed to Singapore and Bangkok, government railway warrants, while Bombay, Karachi, and issued to public servants, could Madras services were upgrad- be exchanged for air tickets. ed. Unhappily, whenever this Effectively, the airline was single Trident tri-jet was Part I spending valuable foreign grounded for some mechani- go it alone? exchange on spare parts and cal problem or shortage of fuel for its airplanes while pilots, all regional operations technical staff in Air Ceylon also extended their flights getting ready to upgrade to its Comet 4s with Vickers earning in fares in rupees! were disrupted. The contended that, rather than through Colombo on more Douglas DC-8 four engine jetlin- VC10s in 1965. On BOAC/Air The once-proud airline Commercial Department of rely on the Australians, they advanced aircraft. BOAC was ers on its own long-range serv- Ceylon flights, the flightdeck was struggling. In 1964, Air Air Ceylon wanted larger air- could ‘go it alone’ with the DC-4 about to start using the revolu- ices. Unfortunately, there could crews were all-British, while a Ceylon acquired a 44-seat craft in the category of the as it was, effectively, a non-pres- tionary de Havilland Comet, be no flow-on benefit to Air small number of Ceylonese Hawker Siddeley (Avro) 748 Boeing 707 and DC-8, but the surized development of the DC- the first jet airliner in the Ceylon because the runways at women served as flight atten- turboprop, intended as an Board of Directors refused. 3 which was within the operat- world, while TWA had the four- Ratmalana and Katunayake dants (although the first class eventual replacement for the ing capabilities of the engine Lockheed Constellation. were not long enough and cabin was also the sole DC-3. But then in 1967, con- Old Timer Ceylonese nationals. But the The latter which, like the strong enough to accommodate province of BOAC’s own staff). trary to all logic, to consoli- (Part II tomorrow) protests of the Air Ceylon Comet had a pressurised cabin, these heavy, modern-generation Meanwhile Air Ceylon’s date internal flights the air- pilots and engineers fell on deaf had been built at the behest of airplanes. Sadly, it years and, in fact, a ‘diplomatic eccentric millionaire Howard seemed, the Ceylonese incident’ nearly ensued. The Hughes, then owner of TWA, to policy makers had Australians insisted that they compete against Pan American blundered and not kept came to teach “your boys” to Airways. But Air Ceylon’s DC- up with developments fly the DC-4s in act of good 4s were no match for these in aviation. Thus, from faith. In reality, however, ANA more modern airplanes. Unlike November 1, 1961 all wanted to get involved with Air the Comet, Constellation, and Air Ceylon internation- Ceylon purely to be able to use the DC-4’s larger, more power- al fights ceased. Ceylon’s traffic rights between ful stablemate the Douglas DC- At the time BOAC Australia and London so that 6, they were non-pressurised was the only carrier ANA could compete with and thus forced to fly at lower operating scheduled Australian flag-carrier Qantas altitudes and unable to climb international flights to at a time when lucrative post- above stormy weather. By the Colombo, and that too war migration traffic to summer of 1953 all DC-4 opera- using Katunayake Australia was booming. Ceylon tions had ceased, with ANA Airport. The aircraft in had been one of the original finding the partnership with use was the Comet 4 (a signatories to the Chicago Air Ceylon no longer viable. development of the Convention and therefore the They were reduced to the sta- original Comet, which interest. tus of ‘sleeping partner’ while was grounded after a In 1949, Air Ceylon’s over- the Ceylon Air Academy and series of disasters), an seas services, in conjunction Air Ceylon operated the inter- uneconomical over- with ANA, began to Bombay nal and regional services, powered aircraft that and Karachi with two DC-4 respectively. was built by the British Skymasters. The international This situation continued to operate to cities in network expanded in January until February 1, 1956, when colonial outposts, past 1950 when London–Sydney Air Ceylon formed another and present, such as flights began, with stops in partnership with KLM-Royal Nairobi (Kenya), Rome, Tel Aviv, Karachi, Dutch Airlines, who bought Johannesburg (South Bombay, Colombo, Singapore, ANA’s shares in the Ceylonese Africa), Colombo, and Jakarta. In May 1951 Air carrier. (The next year ANA Singapore, and Hong Ceylon became a corporation was subsumed in a merger Kong. These aircraft with the Government of with Ansett Airways in were designed to oper- Ceylon owning 51% of the Australia, to become Ansett- ate from short run- shares while ANA held the ANA.) Soon Air Ceylon was fly- ways, unlike the remainder. The Australians ing its colours internationally Boeing 707 and DC-8 also helped to start the Ceylon again with a Lockheed 749 which needed much Air Academy, a flying school at Constellation provided by KLM longer ones. In contrast Ratmalana, as well as—in addi- on services to Bombay, to Ceylon, India had tion to regional operations with Karachi, Bahrain, Cairo, Rome, extended its runways DC-3s—an internal, ‘feeder’ air- London, and Amsterdam, as at the major airports, line which used two twin- well as to Bangkok and and Air-India com- engine, eight seat de Havilland Singapore in the east. Only a menced operating the D.H. 89A Dragon Rapide small number of Ceylonese ultra-modern 707s, thus biplanes on services to China captains, first officers, flight becoming the world’s Bay (Trincomalee), Mineriya, engineers and radio officers fist all-jet Airline. and Ampara. This was indeed a were trained by KLM on the Lacking interna- progressive step, but it also Constellation. However, the tional services, Air meant that young Ceylonese cabin crew was mainly Ceylon’s management pilots would take longer to be Ceylonese, working in conjunc- had no choice but to go promoted to the DC-4. In fact, tion with one or two KLM into a ‘pool’ partner- no locals were cleared to fly the cabin attendants on each flight. ship with BOAC to DC-4s and the Australian pilots Ground engineers and other carry out Air Ceylon had the international skies to Air Ceylon staff were also flights to London. themselves, flying Air Ceylon trained to KLM standards. Unlike with ANA and aircraft while ‘homegrown’ Later, after the 749 KLM, the Comet 4s pilots operated only internal Constellation was replaced by a were not painted in Air and regional services. larger 1049 Super Constellation, Ceylon colours but had Soon, Air Ceylon faced in 1960 KLM provided Air a sticker over the door international competition from Ceylon with a Lockheed 188 which read ‘Air British Overseas Airways Electra turboprop, although its Ceylon’. This arrange- Corporation (BOAC) and Trans shares had now been reduced ment continued after World Airlines (TWA), who had to 24%. At the time KLM was BOAC began replacing.