Upali Air
IATA ICAO Callsign
— — UPALI
Founded1968
Commenced operations1978
Ceased operations1996
HubsRatmalana Airport
HeadquartersColombo, Ceylon
Key peopleUpali Wijewardene

Upali Air was a Sri Lankan airline. It was the island's first domestic airline.

History

Upali Air was founded at the end of the 1960s by Sri Lankan entrepreneur Upali Wijewardene.[1] This businessman was well known for his skill in buying companies on the brink of bankruptcy and making them successful.

Upali Air began operating with a single 20-seat De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter airplane. Later other small airplanes were added to its fleet.

This company ceased to exist not long after Wijewardene's death in a plane crash in February 1983. The Learjet 35A, in which Wijewardene crashed, was registered to the airline.[2] Although other companies of the Upali group continued operating after the founder's death, the Sri Lankan Civil War between the LTTE and the government finished the airline. The increased controls and security measures, along with converting civilian airfields such as Ratmalana Airport into military bases for the Sri Lankan Air Force made Upali Air's operation no longer viable.

Routes

Country-city Airport code Airport name Notes Refs
IATAICAO
ColomboRMLVCCCRatmalana AirportTerminated

Fleet

Aircraft Fleet Introduced Retired
Bell 206 L 1 TBA 1996
Cessna 152 II 2 TBA 1996
Cessna U206G 1 TBA 1986
De Havilland Twin Otter 1 1980 1985
Citation II 1 TBA 1982
Learjet 35A 1 1982 1983

Accidents and incidents

On 13 February 1983, a Learjet 35A took off from Kuala Lumpur at 8:41 pm, bound for Colombo. On board was Wijewardene, his Malaysian lawyer S.M. Ratnam, Upali Group Director Ananda Peli Muhandiram, pilot Capt. Noel Anandappa, co-pilot Capt.Sydney De Zoysa, and steward S. Senenakye. Fifteen minutes after takeoff, the aircraft disappeared while flying over the Strait of Malacca. Search operations by air and naval units of Sri Lanka, India, the United States, the Soviet Union, Australia, Indonesia, and Malaysia failed to locate evidence of a crash.[3][4]

References

  1. ↑ Philip Upali Wijewardene - Features, Online edition of Daily News
  2. ↑ Aviation Safety Network
  3. ↑ "Malaysian plane revives memories of Upali Wijewardene who disappeared - Sri Lanka News". Sri Lanka News. 2014-03-12. Retrieved 2017-07-09.
  4. ↑ Accident description, Aviation-safety.com



This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.