Upali Air was a
Sri Lankan airline. It was the island's first domestic airline.
History
Upali Air was founded at the end of the 1960s by Sri Lankan entrepreneur
Upali Wijewardene. This businessman was well known for his skill in buying companies on the brink of bankruptcy and making them successful.
Upali Air began operating with a single 20-seat
De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter
The de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada, which produced the aircraft from 1965 to 1988; Viking Air purchased the type certificate, then restarted ...
airplane. Later other small airplanes were added to its fleet.
This company ceased to exist not long after Wijewardene's death in a plane crash in February 1983. The
Learjet 35A
The Learjet Model 35 and Model 36 are a series of American multi-role business jets and military transport aircraft manufactured by Learjet. When used by the United States Air Force they carry the designation C-21A.
The aircraft are powered by ...
, in which Wijewardene crashed, was registered to the airline. Although other companies of the Upali group continued operating after the founder's death, the
Sri Lankan Civil War between the
LTTE
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...
and the government finished the airline. The increased controls and security measures, along with converting civilian airfields such as
Ratmalana Airport into military bases for the
Sri Lankan Air Force
The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) ( si, ශ්රි ලංකා ගුවන් හමුදාව, Śrī Laṃkā guwan hamudāva; ta, இலங்கை விமானப்படை, Ilaṅkai vimāṉappaṭai) is the air arm and the yo ...
made Upali Air's operation no longer viable.
Routes
Fleet
Accidents and incidents
On 13 February 1983, a
Learjet 35A took off from
Kuala Lumpur
, anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera''
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia
, pushpin_map_caption =
, coordinates =
, su ...
at 8:41 pm, bound for Colombo. On board was Wijewardene, his Malaysian lawyer S.M. Ratnam, Upali Group Director Ananda Peli Muhandiram, pilot Capt. Noel Anandappa, co-pilot Capt.Sydney De Zoysa, and steward S. Senenakye. Fifteen minutes after takeoff, the aircraft
disappeared while flying over the
Strait of Malacca. Search operations by air and naval units of Sri Lanka, India, the United States, the Soviet Union, Australia, Indonesia, and Malaysia failed to locate evidence of a crash.
Accident description
''Aviation-safety.com''
References
External links
Defunct airlines of Sri Lanka
{{SriLanka-company-stub