By Susitha Fernando/Daily Mirror
Colombo, October 1- Here are excerpts from an interview of Captain Elmo Jayawardena by Susitha Ferando of Daily Mirror –
Q: Today, any young child can dream to be a doctor, engineer, computer scientist or to be in any other high profile profession, but not a pilot. It is an extremely unreachable dream. Why is that?
EFYou are hitting the nail on the head with that question. But the problem is this; to become a pilot in Sri Lanka today, there are only two ways. One is to join the Air Force and get trained free. But the Air Force only recruits a limited number of people because today there is no conflict. So the flying is less in the Air Force. If not, you have to go to a flying school and that will cost, I think, roughly around Rs. 14 million. That’s not the point; even after spending Rs. 14 million, there is no guarantee about a job. Now, if you have a son and if he wants to be a pilot and if it costs Rs. 14 million, you just ask what happens to your son after he passes out. If there is a guaranteed job, then you will sell some property even and educate him. But if there is no guarantee of a job, then it becomes a problem.
Then it becomes a possibility only for somebody who could afford to spend Rs. 14 million and look the other way and go somewhere. That is very difficult, right? So that is our problem. Now in Singapore, it’s different. Singapore Airlines, in which I trained pilots, first goes and hires university students. They have a very good testing system. The student doesn’t have any money. Now, these are the people I trained in Singapore, so I know their stories. When I ask them, hey, why did you become a pilot?
Their answer was “There was an advertisement in the papers in the university. So I applied. My next question: So what is your father doing? So my father is hiring a taxi or my father is selling noodles in the hawker centre”. I remember one guy told me that his father was pumping petrol in a shed, right? That kind of job. But they have a system where anybody can go to the university and they pay loans for you to finish the university. And you have to pay back the government after that. So now that boy who comes out of the university with a degree, his father may be a cab driver, I’m not demeaning his job. I’m only talking about his financial status. That person has no money, but Singapore Airlines trains him free. And then, once you train them free, when they start working, they take all that money they spent on this guy and he pays back. Now, we can do the same thing in Sri Lanka.”
Q:Why can’t we do it here?
Because we always no, it’s difficult, it’s impossible. That is how we lose the battle. The answer is no. So, the answer is no means no point in talking about it, right? But if you start a system like that tomorrow, you can hire engineering students from Moratuwa university who want to be pilots. All you have to do is to give them an excellent three-month English course to polish their English and bring them in and train them.
And once you train them, Sri Lankan has to give them employment, and then they will pay back. So this has to come through Sri Lankan Airlines, through the airport authority, you can afford to run a school or whatever, the civil aviation. Everybody must get together to make that young child who is either from Kahatagasdigiliya or from Udawalawe, or from Kilinochchi, to become a pilot. This is irrespective of whether his father has money or not and that is the correct way to go. But to go on the correct way, somebody must make powerful decisions. And the people who can make powerful decisions should look at what they are saying and then do something about it, so that in future we have people from all walks of life having an opportunity to become a pilot. The same way somebody quite correctly said, they all have an opportunity to become a doctor. All have an opportunity to become an engineer. You name it, they can do everything, but not a pilot.
Q:As you said we have a state-owned airline and we have so many experienced senior aviation experts, I mean we have opportunities here?
We have a lot of opportunities and experienced people. You see they are working as pilots and instructors and they do their part very well. What happens if you are looking at expansion? That is why you are talking to me today about this increase of tourists. If you are going to increase tourist volume, which is a very good vision which the chairman of Sri Lanka Tourist Board has to bring five million tourist by 2030, there must aeroplanes. That’s the number one thing, and if you have more aeroplanes, you must have more pilots to fly them; and to fly them, if you have a system paying for the training of pilots, then students can pay back once they become qualified pilots – then that is a win-win situation.
Q: I saw you have been expressing a very thought provoking idea about Sri Lankan aviation and our capacity, the number one airport Katunayake and the facilities we have and we don’t have?
Now, can we accommodate five million tourists by 2030 with this number one airport? I don’t know whether it is possible or not but it will be very difficult. If you go today and try to depart from Katunayake, there are a lot of people there. Right at the airport people who are coming in from outside or going out, and it is a crowded place. Recently a manager from a very important airline that is coming to Sri Lanka told me: “Captain we want to bring A350 flights but we have a restriction. They (airport authority) say you can only bring only about 75% of the load”. So I asked why? He says no, they don’t have enough checking in counters. So this is with 2.5 million tourists coming to the country, What happens if it becomes five million? Obviously, it will be double the problem. Anybody can give a suggestion, but I am giving a possible solution.
Q:So what is your solution?
If they have another small airport on the other side, the northern side of the present runway, with a terminal and a 2,500 metre runway at Katunayake instead of the present 1500 metre one, that will be the solution. So the entrance must be from the 20th mile post of Colombo-Chilaw road, which is the present entrance to the Sri Lanka Air Force base in Katunayake. So passengers have two entries to the two terminals. Then obviously you can take another 2.5 million passengers easily.
Q:What about the Air Force base at Katunayake?
The airport has to move from Katunayake to Mattala which is not used at all; it is always used in fairy tales. So if the Air Force can go to Mattala, that whole northern side of the airport is open for an expansion, and there will be ample room for a proper international airport. We also can have an internatioanl standard runway of about 2,500 metres, have a little terminal and then you can bring in any flight. That is what I have said very openly, and I am not taking a side and when I say it. I am only talking about aviation.
Q: And what about Mattala airport? Could it only be used by the air force?
About Mattala airport, we were told that this will happen, that will happen and this has taken eleven years; today, if you go to Mattala, there is nothing happening and you know how much it costs per year to maintain the airport? Rs. 3 billion a year.
Now in Katunayaka we had one runway right? One side was the Air Force, the other side was commercial. So Mattala can also be the same thing. The air force can take one side, and there is a lot of room there. There is no problem. The other side is for civilian traffic.
I was told by people from the Air Force who know what they are talking about that they have made an evaluation. It will cost them Rs. 6 billion to move the Air force from Katunayaka to Mattala. I know that Rs. 6 billion is a lot of money. But the airport authority made Rs. 21 billion last year. If you take 21 billion and give them Rs. 6 billion and send them to Mattala, you still have Rs. 15 billion left to do whatever you want; mind you, this is after tax profit I am talking of. That’s how much the airport authority made, which is a great thing. I mean whoever is running that place has to be given total credit for making such profits and then using it in the proper way.
Q: What about the runaway at Mattala airport?
With so much land in Mattala, we have to have a 180 degree turn of the flight, which we find only in Male airport because Male doesn’t have space with the Indian Ocean on either side. With so much land in Mattala, why we didn’t do that? Because some person who designed it didn’t know that we have to have a taxiway to go to the end and nobody checked it and they just passed it.
You know, New York City is a very crowded city. They’ve got six runways and you enter all the runways at the end from a taxiway. You go to San Francisco. It’s very crowded. You go to London. It’s very crowded. Amsterdam? It is very crowded. But no airport does a 180 degree turn. They lead through the taxiway to the end of the runway.
If you fly a big jet aeroplane like a 747, which I know something of because I flew one, to do a 180 Degrees is not a nice thing for a big aeroplane. The wheels bite in and you have steering on your body gear also, only just to make those turns. But we have to do such a difficult turn at Mattala. With all that land around it free in Mattala, now you go and ask them who built it.
Q: You believe that Sri Lankan Airlines can be made into a profit making entity?
Definitely. But the vision needs to have a planned action to bring it into reality, nothing will happen because the last time I saw a minister of aviation, in the previous one, his only solution to the problem in Sri Lanka Airlines was to close it.
This example, I have brought up all the time. Singapore Airlines gave 7.9 a percent bonus because they are at a very high level. Ethiopian Airlines gave their figures for 2023. Their gross earning was USD 8 billion out of which 950 million US dollars was the profit.
You have to understand this. The problem is, they are losing money. They have taken loans. They are in debt. But now, a new board has taken over. New leadership has been given. There is no point in asking them, I say, what are you doing wrong? You have to pay all these loans, and it costs a lot of things. It is our taxpaying money. I also pay tax. That mistake was before. I don’t know whether the new people will, in the future, make mistakes. That I don’t know but so far, they are trying to navigate this airline in a manner to minimise the losses. And it’s not easy. It’s very difficult. But they must be first given a chance for that.
Five aeroplanes were ordered, 350s, in the previous times. Then, somebody else came and cancelled the order. But somebody got a lot of money and put it in their pocket. So those are the things that mattered that time. Such things had to be stopped. I don’t think such things can happen today because people are keeping a very tight rein on this and it is moving.
And don’t forget, Sri Lanka has been voted as the most beautiful country in the world. Tourists want to come here. But we got to have efficient systems to bring them, have a nice airport to take them out. And then, I think the airline can definitely make a profit. But I don’t know whether they can make a profit big enough to pay that enormous loan other people have taken. But definitely, it can have an operating profit, which is what the current management is responsible for.
Q: You also have raised the issue of lacking a high speed taxi way which is essential for fast moving flights on the runaway in our airports. Why can’t we make a fast taxi way?
Because we never thought about it. If we thought about it, it would have been done 20 years ago. In fact, I asked some people when I first spoke; they said, no, no, we are going into that. Fine, wonderful, let’s not talk about the past. They can think, okay, let’s have some high speed taxiways, right? Because when the crowding comes, we can get more aeroplanes in and out.
Q: Can you just explain the importance of taxiways in an airport?
The importance of taxiways, I’ll explain to you in the simplest manner. If you go on the world road and if you have to make a 90 degree turn to go to the beach road, right, will you turn that car at 30 miles an hour? No, you will turn at about 5 or 6 knots because it’s a 90 degree turn.
Now, the taxiways in Katunayake are all 90 degree turns. So the pilot captain who comes to go on to that apron by taking the taxiway has to slow his plane down to at least less than 10 knots to turn. Now, I did this as a practise all my life. If it is a 90 degree turn, I make sure that I’m less than 10 knots when I turn. You understand that? Now, if you have a high speed taxiway, it is not a 90 degree turn, it’s about 45 degrees. Now, the speed limit for that is 50 to 60 knots. So at 60 knots, I can interact and get out. So you can imagine the time saved. It’s a lot. As I said in another talk, just take Katunayake airport as an example.
Gatwick Airport can do 30 movements per hour, that is two minutes for an aeroplane. Either you take off or land. Because they got high speed taxiways all over.You go to Singapore, it’s high speed taxiways all over. So that is the reason that you got to think to get it going.
Q: Do we need lot of money to do this?
No, no, this is all you have to make a taxi pass and go. Don’t forget they made Rs. 21 billion profit, right? So who says you can’t put a shortcut there? It is easy to do. These are not difficult things. The whole world is doing it, we can do it. It’s just that we did not think about it. As I always say, we did not miss the bus. We missed the cruise ship in most places.
Q:And also we have other airports at Ratmalana and Palali. Can we make use of those?
You want to know about Ratmalana? It is the second mistake we made in aviation because they called it Colombo International Airport Ratmalana. The board is still there. Just go to the airport and ask, when was the last time you saw an international aeroplane coming? I don’t think anybody comes there. Of course, they will say, this is okay for business jets. Supposing you had business jets coming, for say, for a day, if you had 30 business jets coming on a particular day to Ratmalana, there is no room to park,. But let’s say 30, and those business jets don’t go packed. In business jets, people will come twos or threes. So if 30 jets came with three passengers each, you will have ninety for the day.
Can you justify the airport then? And that business jet can land in Katunayake if you have two runways parked there, and get on the highway and get to Colombo faster than going from Ratmalana to Colombo. So why are we talking about business jets? And, most important, the runway is only 1,400 metres and you can’t land a 737 or a 320 in that runway. Those are the two smallest passenger jets; and the other thing is, that runway today has no landing gate. So they can say a lot of things, we have spent so much on the airport, you can spend billions on the airport but if you don’t have a landing gate, it’s not an airport.
Q: What about Palali airport? A lot of Tamil community people from the North have to come to Colombo?
Palali should have been opened and done with a long time ago, because it’s flat land. I have landed in Palali so many many times as a young pilot. That should have been our second airport because they would have had a flight from Toronto to Palali. Believe me, they would have had another flight from Birmingham to Palali, because all those people who had roots in Jaffna want to come and they don’t want to come to Katunayake and find a bus and go to Jaffna for 8 hours. Supposing that they could have got off in Jaffna, they would come with their children and showed them what this country is all about. But nobody is talking of this. I think if I’m not mistaken, even today, only a propeller plane can land there. They also have only 1,400 metres. I’m not very sure of that.
Q: And Arugam Bay, which is one of the world’s top tourist sites?
Yeah, You can go and land in Amparai and cover all that. But nobody thought about it.
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