Domestic flights with 70-seater aircraft could take off in six months- Peter Hill
Posted on October 3rd, 2025
By Nishel Fernando Courtesy The Daily Mirror
 Peter Hill |
Sri Lanka could see the launch of a scheduled domestic airline service using 50-70-seater aircraft within the next six months, a move that could solve a long-standing barrier to tourism growth, according to aviation veteran and former SriLankan Airlines CEO Peter Hill.
Hill made these remarks during a panel discussion at International Tourism Leaders Summit 2025, held on Thursday, at the BMICH, in Colombo.
The event, organised by Sri Lanka Tourism in collaboration with the Alumni Association of Tourism Economics and Hospitality Management, University of Colombo, focused on the theme of ‘Tourism Innovation and Connectivity for the Future of Sri Lanka Tourism’.
Addressing a key bottleneck for tourism dispersal—long and arduous land travel times—Hill revealed his active involvement in a project to establish an affordable domestic flight operation.
This lack of swift internal connectivity has historically hampered efforts to spread tourism revenue to the developing regions.
It still takes an awful long time to get to places like Jaffna and the East Coast,” he noted.
He envisions an airline that moves beyond the expensive, low-capacity air taxis and helicopters currently available, which cater to a select few.
The solution, he argued, lies in using the right equipment.
The right equipment is aircraft that can seat maybe 50 to 70 people and carry their luggage with them in comfort,” Hill stated, emphasising that such aircraft are readily available on the global market.
Highlighting the dramatic time savings, he pointed out that the Colombo-Jaffna route, which takes nine to 10 hours by road, is a mere 50-minute flight.
People are prepared to pay for that time, especially our tourists,” he added.
While optimistic, Hill confirmed he is actively working to convince investors and noted that the initiative requires support from the authorities to streamline the significant regulatory transition from charter operations to a scheduled airline. Let’s say that maybe within six months we’ll have an operation going. So, watch this space,” he concluded.