Ratmalana Airport
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| Ratmalana Airport | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| IATA: RML - ICAO: VCCC | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | public/commercial/military | ||
| Operator | Airports and Aviation Services Ltd | ||
| Serves | Colombo, Sri Lanka | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 16 ft (5 m) | ||
| Coordinates | |||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| ft | m | ||
| 4/22 | 6,013 | 1833 | Asphalt |
Ratmalana Airport (IATA: RML, ICAO: VCCC) was originally the international airport for Colombo. It is now used for domestic flights and for military purposes.
In 1934 the State Council of Ceylon (as it then was) made a decision to construct an aerodrome within reach of the capital city of Colombo and decided on Ratmalana as the best site. On 27 November 1935 a de Havilland Puss Moth flown by Tyndalle Bisco, Chief flying instructor of the Madras Flying Club, was the first aircraft to land at the new airpoert.
During the Second World War it was used as an RAF base, with No 30 Squadron flying Hawker Hurricanes from there against Japanese Navy aircraft. QEA flew civilianised Consolidated B-24 Liberator and Avro Lancastrian aeroplanes there from Perth, Western Australia, on what was at the time the world's longest non-stop air route. The flight continued after the war with an intermediate re-fuelling stop at the Cocos Islands.
Ratmalana airport at one time had the country's main terminal, with the Douglas DC-3 Dakota and Lockheed Constellation aeroplanes of Air Ceylon flying out of it. In 1947, KLM flew Douglas DC-4 Skymasters through the airport on the route from the Netherlands to the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia).
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