Chairman

Mr. Upul Ganganath Dharmadasa CTC - Chairman, Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka

Mr. Upul Ganganath Dharmadasa CTC assumed duties as the Chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority with effect from 14th January 2020.
Mr. Upul Dharmadasa was born in 1952 and followed his School Education in Rahula, Silvester and ST.Thomas Colleges in Matara. In 1972, he graduated from Ceylon Hotel School and worked at the hotel Ceylon Oberoi. Then, he joined Air Ceylon and underwent UTA training and had worked there from 1974 -1979.
In 1979, he sailed “Lanka Kalyani” cadet training ship as Purser and was sailed until 1980.
Furthermore, in 1980 Mr. Upul Dharmadasa migrated to Los Angeles, state of California in the United States and completed a degree in Food and Nutrition. Additionally, from 1982 to 1987 he had worked in Best hospitals in California State as a hospital dietitian.
In 1984, he started a part time Travel business by launching Upul Travels Service in the USA.
In 1989, obtained the highest ranking certificate in the Travel Industry from “Institute of Certificate travel Agent of Massachusetts “. As a consultant in the Travel Industry, a specialized standard titled CTC (Certified Travel Consultant) was awarded to him. He managed and secured SriLankan Airlines GSA in the USA in 1999.
He has acquired continuous expertise training on Ticketing and Tourism related areas. Additionally, he established a company by the name “Upperclass Travel Inc” in The USA servicing over 150,000 travel professionals, offering discounted first /business class travel. He created an upper class limousine service in Los Angeles offering Luxury vehicle service in the entire state of California and Nevada in 2006. Also, He was appointed as a President of the Sri Lankan Limousine Consortium in Los Angeles in 2009. He created UEI Inc Financial institution in Los Angeles, California in 2011 & developed International travel booking Engine known as Utravel.com in 2014.
He was the winner of the Exceptional Achievement Award – 2006 conferred by the Sri Lanka Foundation institute and also the winner of the Sri America Award conferred by Sri Lanka/America Cultural Organisation, USA in 2017.
During the period from 1984 to 2020, Mr. Upul Ganganath Dharmadasa was instrumental in bringing the highest revenue to Sri Lankan Airlines from North America, which was over US$ 200 million.

Director General of Civil Aviation and Chief Executive Officer

Capt.Themiya Abeywickrama – Director General of Civil Aviation and Chief Executive Officer – (Member Ex-officio)

The Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka is pleased to inform that the Cabinet of Ministers has appointed Capt. Themiya Abeywickrama as the Director General of Civil Aviation/Chief Executive Officer with effect from 1st April 2020 upon the retirement of his predecessor Mr. H M C Nimalsiri.

Capt.Themiya had his primary and higher education at Richmond College, Galle and had his flying training with Sierra Academy of Aeronautics in Oakland, California.

Capt.Themiya commenced his distinguished career in Aviation at Air Lanka in 1990 as a flight engineer on the Lockheed TriStar fleet. He quickly progressed to become a First Officer on the TriStar, then to Airbus fleet and thereafter as Captain on the Airbus A320/A330/A340 fleets. He was also a designated check pilot and VVIP Pilot for the company.

His next stint was with Kingfisher Airlines from 2008 where he served as Captain and also as a designated check pilot for the Indian Director General of Civil Aviation on the Airline’s Airbus fleet. He also initiated the introduction of the Kingfisher wide body fleet instructor and pilot training as per the Indian Director General of Civil Aviation’s rules and regulations and was also recognized to fly VVIPs.

In 2011 he assumed office at Mihin Lanka as the Chief Pilot – Training and Standards, wherein he was also a designated Check Pilot for the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka and was responsible for implementing innovative cadet pilot induction and training programs. In this role he had to fulfill many regulatory requirements of the CAASL on behalf of the Airline. In Addition to conducting of Acceptance Test Flights when inducting new Aircraft, Capt. Themiya was also involved in conducting special and VVIP flights.

From Warm and Sunny Sri Lanka Capt. Themiya moved to mountainous Nepal when he joined Himalaya Airlines in 2015 as the General Manager and Deputy Director Operations. There too he functioned as a Designated Check Pilot for the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal. He was part of the team that was instrumental in the Airline obtaining its Air Operator Certificate and was also responsible for coordinating training for pilots, technical staff and cabin crew to satisfy regulatory and licensing requirements of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal. Once again, he was the person who was authorized to conduct new aircraft acceptance test flights for Himalayan. Captain Themiya was entrusted to Command Hon Prime Minister of Nepal’s visit to China.

From Himalaya Airlines, Capt.Themiya moved to Wataniya Airways in Kuwait in 2016 to assume duties as Operations Director fulfilling all regulatory aspects as per the requirements of the Kuwait Director General of Civil Aviation. He enabled the Airline to obtain its Air Operator Certificate and coordinated the operations of the Airline to the neighboring states of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Lebanon, India, Nepal and further with eastern European countries. Aircraft acceptance test flights for Wataniya too was done by Capt.Themiya.

Just Prior to assuming the office of Director General of Civil Aviation, Capt. Themiya was a Senior Captain at Jazeera Airways in Kuwait.

Capt.Themiya is the son of the Late Mr. Sumandasa Abeywickrama who was a landed Proprietor turned politician and Member of Parliament and a Minister from 1977 to 1983 and Mrs. Enid Abeywickrama who was the Principal at Nurses Training School in Galle in the late 1960’s . He is married to Wasanthi Kumari and his only son Pansilu runs his own IT and travel related company. Capt.Themiya has two siblings, brother Sathis and sister Dilani Senaratne.

The role of the Director General of Civil Aviation is pivotal in ensuring a safe, secure, efficient, regular and environmentally friendly Civil Aviation Industry in Sri Lanka which fulfils its obligations as a contracting state to the International Convention on Civil Aviation.

We are confident as Capt. Themiya Abeywickrama takes over the controls, his wide industry experience will take the Civil Aviation Industry in Sri Lanka to greater heights.

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Former Chairman

Former Vice Chairman

Former Director General - Ex officio

Former Secretary, Ministry of Defence

Former Treasury Representative

Former Member