Cinnamon Air in maiden charter flight to Castlereagh Reservoir

Saturday, 26 July 2014 05:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Cinnamon Air, Sri Lanka’s premier domestic airline, completed its inaugural charter flight to the picturesque Castlereagh Reservoir on 9 July. Operating Cinnamon Air’s Cessna 208 Caravan Amphibian aircraft from Waters Edge, Colombo to Castlereagh Reservoir, Hatton took a mere 25 minutes and afforded passengers fabulous views of the stunning hill country below. Cinnamon Air has introduced Castlereagh Reservoir as a new charter destination in order to service the luxurious boutique Ceylon Tea Trail properties that are situated in the surrounding Ceylon tea region, bordering the World Heritage Central Highlands. Commenting on this inaugural flight, Cinnamon Air Director Romesh David stated: “We are pleased at being able to add Castlereagh to Cinnamon Air’s portfolio of destinations. The aircraft operated by us are ideally suited for the mountainous terrain that rings Castlereagh and we look forward to serving it regularly in the months ahead. There has been a hiatus of over 12 months since the location was effectively served by air and we are confident that visitors to the Tea Trails properties, particularly those with shorter stays, will opt for the greatly enhanced experience of an air transfer over an arduous drive. Given that the reservoir

will be served as a charter rather than scheduled destination, customers will have the option of arriving there by air from the international airport or any one of the multitude of inland points served by Cinnamon Air.” Champika De Silva, General Manager Sales and Marketing for Resplendent Ceylon, which manages both Ceylon Tea Trails and Cape Weligama on the southern coastline (an area which is already well served by Cinnamon Air), stated that the new charter destination of Castlereagh Reservoir provides “quite a great opportunity for our clients to experience both properties and what we have to offer whilst travelling just a short distance via Cinnamon Air”. “This usually takes our guests long hours on the road, however, with the launch of Cinnamon Air, this can now help our guests enjoy both experiences and spend a longer time with us at the resorts,” she added Cinnamon Air completed one year of scheduled passenger operations on 1 July. In the past year, Cinnamon Air has carried over 4,000 passengers on 900 scheduled flights to eight regular destinations and operated over 175 charter flights to 20 destinations. Ten of the destinations served were water aerodromes, making Cinnamon Air the first domestic carrier to commercially serve such a diverse range of inland points in Sri Lanka and the only scheduled airline to do so out of Colombo’s international airport. All Cinnamon Air scheduled flights operate in code share with SriLankan Airlines, consequent to which they are also be available for sale throughout the SriLankan Airlines network and all travel agents around the world via Global Distribution Systems, under a ‘UL’ designated flight number. Cinnamon Air, owned and operated by Saffron Aviation Ltd., is a joint venture between Sri Lanka’s largest listed conglomerate, John Keells Holdings, MMBL Leisure Holdings (a part of the Mercantile Merchant Bank Group) and Phoenix Ventures (parent of Phoenix Industries and the Brandix Group, Sri Lanka’s largest garment manufacturer). The airline operates a fleet of two Cessna 208 amphibian aircraft and one Cessna 208B Grand Caravan aircraft, with scheduled services to key inland points in Sri Lanka. Cinnamon Air also offers charter services to and between all Airports and Water Aerodromes in Sri Lanka. The airline is based out of Katunayake where it operates a dedicated domestic terminal (within the precincts of the BIA) and also has its own purpose built hangar and maintenance facilities.