Katunayake airport Archives

FIRST JET AIRCRAFT TO LAND IN SRI LANKA Compiled – By Gp Capt Kumar Kirinde, SLAF (Retd) Annex A – Brief on Gloster Meteor, Page 10 Annex B – Brief on De Havilland Vampire, Page 11 Based on an article by aviation historian and writer Roger Thiedeman in the Sri Lanka Sunday Times of January 30, 2000; plus other material supplied and written by Roger. The day jet planes first came to Ceylon – by Roger Thiedeman (Sri Lanka Sunday Times, January 30, 2000) https://www.sundaytimes.lk/000130/plus10.html Passengers, visitors and those who work at Katunayake airport would be accustomed to the sound of jetliners landing and taking off. The shrill, piercing whine or deafening roar of jet engines is today a familiar backdrop to the bustling activity at Colombo’s aerial gateway. But there was a time when Katunayake knew only the more genteel drone of piston engines and the hum of whirling ...

STRINGENT MEASURES TO FIGHT BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION. – By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando The current economic crisis is exacerbating day after day. People line up in extended queues, although the Government advises not to line up in long rows. The general public does that because they may lose their place in the queue once they leave. Therefore, desperate folk stand in queues day and night and sleep wherever possible because of this problem. The Sri Lankan people have never seen such a predicament in the last 74 years since ‘Ceylon’ gained Independence. Ex-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has left Sri Lanka and is in hiding, initially in the Maldives. The latest news is that he has travelled to Singapore, but his permanent residence is still unknown. Also, that US immigration rejected his visa to enter the U.S.! Meanwhile, Basil Rajapaksa, who attempted to flee the country was blocked at the Katunayake airport ...