Namal Rajapaksa to open Mihin Lanka Airlines office in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 September 2010, 05:39 GMT]
Namal Rajapaksa, son of Sri Lanka president and parliamentarian, is expected to open an office of Mihin Lanka Airlines in Jaffna Sunday. Mihin Lanka will begin a special flight service between Katunayake International Airport and Palaali Airport in Jaffna as Sri Lanka Ministry of Defence had given the Airlines permission to operate the local flight service, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, opposition parties allege that Mihin Lanka Airlines is a Rajapaksa family concern and that it has not paid millions of rupees due to Sri Lanka government for the fuel it had used in the past.

Mihin Lanka which operates flights to limited destinations abroad including Tiruchirappalli (Thiruchchi) in South India is to engage in this local service, the sources added.

Local flights services are operated between Ratmalana Airport in Colombo and Palaali Airport.

Mihin Lanka Airlines will be the first to operate flight service between Katunayake International Airport and Palaali Airport, the sources said.

There are already two other Air Lines ticket issuing offices in Jaffna.