Who is Suren?
Suren Ratwatte, FRAeS, is an accomplished pilot, airline executive and aviation researcher.
He became one of the world’s first Airbus A380 Captains, was previously SriLankan Airlines’ CEO and has also been featured in several books and academic publications.
Category: Columns
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Airlines in the Maldives
Airlines of South Asia – Part 5 The Maldives Air Maldives With the launch of scheduled flights to the Maldives (Maldive Islands) archipelago by Air Ceylon in 1967, the tourism industry to these idyllic islands was born. Realizing the vital importance of an air service to their small nation, the government of the Maldives took…
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Air Ceylon
Airlines of South Asia – Part 4 Air Ceylon As already mentioned in this series, Colombo was the first overseas destination of Tata Air Lines in 1938. As independence from Britain approached after the Second World War, the Government of Ceylon decided to set up its own airline. Named Air Ceylon and equipped with three…
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PIA and Biman
Airlines of South Asia – Part 3 Pakistan and Bangladesh With the creation of Pakistan in 1947 came a conundrum. The newly formed nation was physically split into two parts, the larger western portion comprising the Sindh, North West frontier province, Punjab and Baluchistan. This was separated from the eastern portion, which was primarily the…
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Indian Airlines – a regional giant
Part 2 – Indian Airlines The government of India nationalised domestic airlines in 1953 to set up two state-owned carriers. This was in keeping with global trends, the British government having established two state-owned airlines to serve its transport needs, British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) for international flights and British European Airways, (BEA) for regional…
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Air India – the pioneer of Asian aviation
The Birth of airlines in the South Asian region Part 1 – Air India South Asia as we know it today, is a recent invention. A hundred years ago, it was simply India, or “British India”. The subcontinent was united under British rule, with a patchwork of “princely states” enjoying nominal independence, but functioning under…
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The Decade Ahead – Part 2
My latest column on FT was published recently – and is republished below
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The “Ghost” column
SARS all over again? Many readers will remember the outbreak of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) in 2002, which affected East Asia quite significantly. Originating in southern China, the SARS scare lasted almost a year, with the virus infecting over 8,000 and resulting in 774 deaths in 17 countries. Fast forward A new mutation of…
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2020: What will the decade ahead hold?
Crystal balls are murky things, and predicting what is ahead for the next decade is fraught with pitfalls. This is especially true in the aerospace industry as there is so little history to go on. As readers of this blog are aware, the airline industry as we know it came into existence only in the…
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What led to the demise of Thomas Cook?
One of the world’s oldest travel companies, Thomas Cook, in business since 1841, failed last week, stranding more than 150,000 passengers worldwide. The unravelling of Thomas Cook’s business is a complex matter, which in many ways is symptomatic of the travel industry’s recent woes. A combination of factors has come together to disrupt existing business…
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Boeing in MAX-imum trouble?
Recent reports are that Boeing may be at risk of having to completely stop production of its most lucrative aircraft until the aircraft is re-certified, due to logistical reasons. This could mean significant layoffs and serious repercussions for its huge number of sub-contractors Read my latest column on Financial Times to read my take on…
