SriLankan Aviation mulls major expansion drive in Mattala | Daily News

SriLankan Aviation mulls major expansion drive in Mattala

SriLankan Aviation College, SriLankan Airlines training arm, is looking at a major expansion drive and is also looking at setting up an Aviation College in Mattala Airport.

SriLankan Aviation College General Manager Primal De Silva said that they will set up this college from revenue within the company and also through bank loans. “We are ready to invest but need more aircraft movements at Mattala to fully engage in the project.”

He said they have also acquired a 737 200 cargo aircraft for training and now are on the look out for a six seater Cessna aircraft.

Elaborating on their other plans he said that they will also tie up with three universities in England and Australia to offer more engineering courses. “We will also open two regional Aviation Colleges in Jaffna and the Eastern province next year. The students will come to Colombo in their final part of the exam to Colombo for practicals.

De Silva said SriLankan Aviation College is a self funding institution and today has around 20% of foreign students who help to generate additional forex to the country and the airline.

He said that they are one of the world’s 25th IATA accredited Regional Training Partners and only such centre in the region.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA), the largest aviation training body in the world, has selected Sri Lanka as the venue for its flagship annual event, the IATA Global Training Partner Conference 2017, on May 15 and 16 at Cinnamon Grand. “We will provide around Rs. 1.5 million to be the main sponsor for the event allowing us to get regional mileage from the event.”

The conference is the largest aviation training conference in the world and is the most dynamic event for networking in aviation training partners worldwide.

IATA selected Sri Lanka from among many other nominees for its Global Training Conference based on the above criteria and by recognizing the efforts of SriLankan Aviation College and SriLankan Airlines in developing a regional platform for aviation training. 

 


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