Sri Lanka Saturday launched hot air ballooning over Colombo with daily flights scheduled from November as part of plans to boost leisure activities in the city and attract both local and foreign tourists.
Adventure Asia, the only hot air balloon operator in the island has been servicing commercial balloon flights in the central areas of Dambulla, Sigiriya and Habarana since 2003. With the decade’s long conflict with the Tamil Tigers ending in May 2009, the skies above Colombo have opened up for civil aviation and tourism promoters are looking for ways to increase leisure activities in the City.
Organizers say hot air ballooning could be one way of making tourists spend more time in Colombo.
“We are looking at daily flights for tourists who are breaking journey in Colombo and for others that stopover in Colombo for some shopping after their holiday”, Vijitha Welikala, Chairman of Adventure Asia said.
“One of the biggest problems for tourists is that there aren’t enough excursions in Colombo. A traveler coming to Colombo for a second time gets board”
“Now we are giving a different dimension to Colombo where they can see Colombo from a birds eye view”, Welikala said.
Several take off points near Colombo have been identified for ballooning including the ground of the Open University in Nawala. Last week a tethered balloon flight lifted guests few meters up from the launch site at Water’s Edge; a hotel bordering Colombo as the wind condition was unfavourable for a fuller flight planned north east over the skies of Colombo.
A balloon basket can carry sixteen passengers and flights are likely to be scheduled between six to seven O’clock in the mornings when the winds are calm.
The best time for ballooning is considered to be within 2 hours of sunrise or two hours of sunset.
A balloon rises when there is more hot air inside the balloon than is on the outside of the balloon. To help keep the balloon in the air and rising, hot air needs to be propelled upwards using a burner.
The balloon can be brought down to the ground by opening the parachute valve at the very top of the balloon allowing hot air escape decreasing the inner air temperature. The cooling air slows the balloon’s climb.
Hot air ballooning could be a relaxed way of passing time but the adventure is that your destination is unknown.
“Everybody likes to fly but flying with a motorized engine and destinations known is not very adventurous” Welikala said.
“The beauty of ballooning is that you don’t know your destination but you know the direction and then you got to totally surrender to the laws of nature,” he said.
“In Habarana where we have been flying for eight years, we have never in the hundreds of flights we have done landed on the same place twice. It’s always a different spot”, Peter Stewart, the Managing Director of Adventure Asia said.
“Our pilots often comment that Sri Lanka due to its diverse and beautiful landscape is among the top five destinations in which they love to fly” he said.
LBO
Adventure Asia, the only hot air balloon operator in the island has been servicing commercial balloon flights in the central areas of Dambulla, Sigiriya and Habarana since 2003. With the decade’s long conflict with the Tamil Tigers ending in May 2009, the skies above Colombo have opened up for civil aviation and tourism promoters are looking for ways to increase leisure activities in the City.
Organizers say hot air ballooning could be one way of making tourists spend more time in Colombo.
“We are looking at daily flights for tourists who are breaking journey in Colombo and for others that stopover in Colombo for some shopping after their holiday”, Vijitha Welikala, Chairman of Adventure Asia said.
“One of the biggest problems for tourists is that there aren’t enough excursions in Colombo. A traveler coming to Colombo for a second time gets board”
“Now we are giving a different dimension to Colombo where they can see Colombo from a birds eye view”, Welikala said.
Several take off points near Colombo have been identified for ballooning including the ground of the Open University in Nawala. Last week a tethered balloon flight lifted guests few meters up from the launch site at Water’s Edge; a hotel bordering Colombo as the wind condition was unfavourable for a fuller flight planned north east over the skies of Colombo.
A balloon basket can carry sixteen passengers and flights are likely to be scheduled between six to seven O’clock in the mornings when the winds are calm.
The best time for ballooning is considered to be within 2 hours of sunrise or two hours of sunset.
A balloon rises when there is more hot air inside the balloon than is on the outside of the balloon. To help keep the balloon in the air and rising, hot air needs to be propelled upwards using a burner.
The balloon can be brought down to the ground by opening the parachute valve at the very top of the balloon allowing hot air escape decreasing the inner air temperature. The cooling air slows the balloon’s climb.
Hot air ballooning could be a relaxed way of passing time but the adventure is that your destination is unknown.
“Everybody likes to fly but flying with a motorized engine and destinations known is not very adventurous” Welikala said.
“The beauty of ballooning is that you don’t know your destination but you know the direction and then you got to totally surrender to the laws of nature,” he said.
“In Habarana where we have been flying for eight years, we have never in the hundreds of flights we have done landed on the same place twice. It’s always a different spot”, Peter Stewart, the Managing Director of Adventure Asia said.
“Our pilots often comment that Sri Lanka due to its diverse and beautiful landscape is among the top five destinations in which they love to fly” he said.
LBO
