Aviation History
Sri Lankan civil aviation began with Air Ceylon, founded in 1947 soon after independence, which was replaced in 1979 by Air Lanka after Air Ceylon's collapse. Air Lanka was rebranded SriLankan Airlines in 1998 when Emirates took a management stake and minority shareholding, later divesting in 2008. SriLankan Airlines, majority state-owned since then, has faced persistent financial losses — worsened by the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings and the COVID-19 pandemic — and has been undergoing state-led restructuring amid Sri Lanka's broader economic crisis.
Air Ceylon was established as Sri Lanka's (then Ceylon's) first national carrier shortly after independence from Britain.
Following Air Ceylon's financial collapse, the government established Air Lanka as the new national flag carrier.
Air Lanka was rebranded SriLankan Airlines after Emirates acquired a minority stake and took over management of the carrier.
Emirates ended its management role and sold its shareholding back to the Sri Lankan government, returning SriLankan Airlines to full state control.
The April 2019 Easter Sunday terrorist attacks caused a sharp collapse in inbound tourism, severely damaging SriLankan Airlines' finances.
Pandemic-related travel restrictions compounded SriLankan Airlines' accumulated losses amid Sri Lanka's wider economic crisis.
Amid Sri Lanka's sovereign debt crisis, the government advanced plans to restructure and potentially seek new investment for the loss-making carrier; the outcome remains subject to change.
SriLankan Airlines · Air Ceylon (defunct) · Air Lanka (defunct) · FitsAir
Wikipedia, SriLankan Airlines corporate history, Sri Lanka Civil Aviation Authority
Aviation Firsts
Ratmalana Airport — Ratmalana, Colombo (1938): Site decision 1934; first landing (De Havilland Puss Moth) 27 Nov 1935; formally opened for civil aviation 28 Feb 1938. Deccan Herald explicitly states: 'Established in 1938, the Ratmalana airport is Sri Lanka's oldest airport.' Wikipedia confirms it as 'the country's first international airport,' a status it held until Bandaranaike International opened in 1967. Operating today (domestic plus limited international traffic resumed 27 Mar 2022, after 54/55 years). · Wikipedia ↗
No competing airport claim found; the only ambiguity is internal to this single site — sources differ on whether to date it from 1934 (site acquired), 1935 (first landing), or 1938 (formal opening, the year used by the explicit 'oldest' claim).
Air Ceylon (1947): Founded 1947; first commercial flight 10 Dec 1947 (Ratmalana, Douglas Dakota). Ceased operations 1979 (bankruptcy); succeeded by Air Lanka (est. July 1979, rebranded SriLankan Airlines in 1998) — but Air Lanka was a newly-established entity, not a direct corporate continuation of Air Ceylon. · Wikipedia ↗
Air Ceylon (1947) is the honest 'first airline' but has a broken lineage — it was liquidated, not converted. SriLankan Airlines (current flag carrier) only traces indirectly through Air Lanka, a newly-established 1979 entity.
Emirates / dnata (ground handling rights) (United Arab Emirates), 1998: A 1998 agreement gave 'Emirates' exclusive rights to all aircraft ground handling and airline catering at Bandaranaike International Airport for 10 years, expiring 31 Mar 2008, per Daily FT. Note: the source names 'Emirates,' not explicitly 'dnata' (Emirates Group's ground-handling arm is dnata) — this ambiguity could not be resolved this session. No explicit first-ever-foreign-entrant statement was found, so confidence is tentative, not confirmed. Ground handling in Sri Lanka has otherwise historically been state-controlled (SriLankan Airlines held the GH monopoly for years; state-owned AASL took over GH at Ratmalana on 25 Mar 2022) — Swissport, Çelebi, WFS and Menzies Aviation were all checked and none returned a Sri Lanka-specific dated entry beyond the 1998 Emirates/dnata deal above. (best-documented candidate found — not source-confirmed as literally first.) · Daily FT ↗