KATUNAYAKE AIRPORT

Domestic aviation in Sri Lanka has suffered a somewhat patchy history, mainly due to the civil conflict, which at its height lead to the banning of all non-military flights. Since the ceasefire in 2002, however, the industry has taken wing once again. Most popular is the flight to Jaffna. Our travel correspondent reports on her experiences flying the carrier ExpoAir on her recent journalistic mission north.  

Glancing at a map of Sri Lanka it seems like a small enough island, similar in size to Tasmania in Australia or Ireland. Small enough that travelling around should not take so much time. Those who live here or have travelled in Sri Lanka, know this couldn’t be further from the truth. Jaffna, the northern most point of the island, is 396km from the capital, yet it can take up to 13 hours by road. Not surprisingly, many people choose to make use of the quicker option provided by airlines such as ExpoAir.