Sri Lanka’s first passenger-carrying drone has arrived in the country, and the Civil Aviation Authority expects to fly it for the first time from Colombo Port City before the end of this month.
The aircraft has landed at Bandaranaike International Airport, Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka Director General Daminda Rambukwella told the Daily Mirror, which reported the arrival at 6.34 a.m. on Monday. He said the first flight is expected on 30 or 31 October, or during the first week of November, with Port City identified as the launch point.
The authority announced the arrival a day earlier, Hiru News reported at 5.47 p.m. on Sunday, saying the first flight had been arranged for the end of this month. Hiru adds the aircraft’s endurance: it carries two passengers at a time and can fly continuously for 30 minutes.
Hiru says Port City has been named the main operations centre for the service, and that flights for tourists at Sigiriya, Pidurangala and surrounding areas are also being planned. Sri Lanka obtained the opportunity through the “Global Fast Track Program” launched by EHang to speed the introduction of drone-based aircraft into international markets, according to that filing.
The destination has not been chosen
The launch point is settled; where the aircraft flies to is not.
Rambukwella said the destination will be decided after discussions with the Ministry of Defence scheduled for 23 October — four days from now, and a week before the earliest stated flight date. He also said an international team of experts is expected to visit Sri Lanka to discuss how the project should be implemented, “taking into account the country’s geography and transport needs,” despite the aircraft having already arrived.
On the regulatory side he said Sri Lanka has completed the necessary processes under the relevant United States certification standards for the selected aircraft, while local rules governing Advanced Air Mobility systems are still being finalised.
An archive discrepancy this filing resolves
This desk reported in August that the two-seat capacity EHang presented to the ministry was smaller than the six-passenger figure the Civil Aviation Authority’s director general had described when the authority first disclosed the pilot project in July. That gap is now explained.
The two-seater is the starter aircraft, not the plan. The CAASL intends to introduce larger aircraft carrying four to six passengers next year, Rambukwella said. Both figures were correct; they describe different phases, which neither of the earlier filings made clear.
The September pilot slipped by about two months
Set against this desk’s own record, the timetable has moved.
In August, Deputy Minister Ruwan Kodithuwakku said the pilot project was scheduled to start in September. The first aircraft arrived in mid-October, and the first flight is now expected at the end of October or in early November. Neither filing notes the slip, and no official quoted in either gives a reason for it.
The route plan has also changed. The August account had the first phase running Colombo to the southern coastal belt, and Katunayake to Port City Colombo. Port City is now the launch point and operations centre, and the destination is undecided — so the Katunayake leg that was to be one of the two opening routes is not mentioned in either of Monday’s filings.
Two cost figures that measure different things
Rambukwella said passenger-carrying drones could cost less than some premium electric cars. That is the price of an aircraft, and it should not be read against the only other figure this desk has published on the service: an indicative US$20–30 per passenger for a trip from the airport to Colombo hotels, reported in August. One is a capital cost and the other a fare, and no filing has given an updated fare.
How the service is meant to scale
The remaining detail comes from the Daily Mirror.
- A second shipment is expected on 28 November.
- The larger four-to-six-seat aircraft could operate like shuttle services, with flights every 30 minutes over distances of around 20 kilometres.
- Dedicated facilities known as vertiports will be required for take-offs, landings, charging and passenger handling.
- The aircraft are expected to operate at 400 to 500 feet and carry real-time tracking and monitoring systems.
Intended uses beyond urban transport include tourism, emergency medical transport and cargo delivery to hard-to-reach areas, plus scenic flights over the hill country and coastal areas including whale-watching destinations. Rambukwella said the project could also open the door for passenger-drone manufacturers to establish operations in Sri Lanka, depending on the business model agreed with the government; those discussions are continuing.
The Daily Mirror notes that China, Singapore and Thailand have already begun introducing the technology, and that Sri Lanka intends to assess its suitability through a pilot programme before expanding it.
That comparison is not new. Rambukwella named the same three countries, and framed the pilot the same way, when the authority first disclosed the project in July — so the authority’s stated rationale has held unchanged across three months while the timetable has not.
A note on the aircraft’s origin, and on a name
The aircraft was imported under the EHang brand from Thailand, the Daily Mirror says. EHang is a Chinese manufacturer, and the August coverage described it as such; the shipment route and the manufacturer’s nationality are separate facts, and this article states each as reported.
On the Director General’s name: this desk’s August article rendered it “Damith Rambukwella”, while its July report — also drawn from the Daily Mirror — and Monday’s filing both give “Daminda Rambukwella”. Six articles in this archive use “Daminda” against two using “Damith”, so the August rendering is the outlier and “Daminda” is the correct form. This article uses it.
Not reported
Neither filing gives the aircraft’s model designation, its registration, the date it actually landed at BIA, or who owns and will operate it — whether the CAASL, a private operator or EHang itself. The cost of the first aircraft is not stated, nor the terms of the import, nor who paid for it.
Neither says whether the 30 or 31 October flight will carry passengers or be an unmanned demonstration, who would be aboard if it does, or what approval remains outstanding before it can proceed. The Advanced Air Mobility regulations are described as being finalised with no date given, and nothing states whether the first flight requires them to be in force.
The Ministry of Defence’s role is not explained — neither filing says why the destination requires its agreement, or what would happen to the flight date if the 23 October discussions do not conclude. No vertiport site has been named, and the claim that the aircraft could cost less than a premium electric car is not attached to a figure.
Neither filing reports a response from the Ministry of Ports and Civil Aviation, which announced the September timetable, on why that date was not met.
