Director General of Civil Aviation of Sri Lanka, Captain Daminda Rambukwella, has been honoured for his outstanding moderation of a key session at the 61st Conference of Directors General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) of the Asia and Pacific Regions, held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
He received the recognition from the Secretary General of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Mr. Juan Carlos Salazar, in appreciation of his excellent moderation and contribution to the successful conduct of the session.
Captain Rambukwella served as the Moderator of the Capacity Development and Implementation session, facilitating discussions among senior aviation officials on key regional priorities related to capacity development and effective implementation.
The recognition highlights Sri Lanka’s active contribution to regional civil aviation and reflects the growing recognition of the country’s leadership and engagement in regional aviation cooperation.
His role at the conference further builds on his regional leadership as Chairman of the Cooperative Aviation Security Programme – Asia Pacific (CASP-AP) for 2026–2027, demonstrating Sri Lanka’s continued commitment to strengthening cooperation and advancing civil aviation in the Asia and Pacific Region.
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A special meeting was held today between Captain Daminda Rambukwella, Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CAASL), and His Excellency Mohamed Saif Al Suwaidi, Director General of the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA ) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), on the sidelines of the 61st Conference of Directors General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The meeting focused on further strengthening cooperation between Sri Lanka and the UAE in civil aviation, with particular attention to the use of new technologies and the development of technical capabilities within Sri Lanka’s aviation sector.
At the request of Captain Rambukwella, His Excellency Mohamed Saif Al Suwaidi agreed to support technical training opportunities for CAASL personnel without course fees. The training will cover key areas including Airworthiness, Air Operations, Air Navigation and emerging technologies such as electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.
The initiative is expected to strengthen the technical expertise of Sri Lankan aviation professionals and support the continued development and modernization of the country’s civil aviation sector, contributing to improved connectivity, tourism and economic growth.
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Captain Daminda Rambukwella, Director General of Civil Aviation and Chief Executive Officer of the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CAASL), served as the Moderator of Session 8 – Capacity Development and Implementation at the 61st Conference of Directors General of Civil Aviation, Asia and Pacific Region (DGCA/61), held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Held from 7 to 11 September 2026 under the theme “Smart Skies: Emerging Technologies for Safe, Secure, Sustainable & Efficient Aviation,” the conference brought together Directors General of Civil Aviation, senior aviation officials, international organisations and other key stakeholders from across the Asia and Pacific Region.
Captain Rambukwella’s role as Moderator marked a significant milestone for Sri Lanka, reflecting the growing recognition of Sri Lanka’s contribution to regional civil aviation and its active role in regional cooperation.
Session 8 covered a broad range of regional initiatives related to capacity development, implementation support, technical cooperation, knowledge sharing and human capacity development.
Discussions included the Asia Pacific Flight Procedure Programme, the ICAO Pacific Small Island Developing States Implementation Support Roadmap, capacity development for flying training organisations, technical cooperation and stronger regional coordination.
The session also addressed aviation competencies for emerging technologies, ICAO Global Aviation Training, gender equality in air navigation services, AI literacy and governance, regional training cooperation, and digitalisation of the air cargo industry.
Further discussions covered the contribution of international organisations to technical and regional cooperation, inclusive participation in ICAO Asia and Pacific meetings through virtual and hybrid engagement, monitoring of conference action items through the APAC DGCA Conference Action Items Tracker Portal, and the ICAO Asia and Pacific Capacity Development Initiative.
As Moderator, Captain Rambukwella facilitated the proceedings and guided the exchange of views among participating States and aviation stakeholders on strengthening aviation capacity development across the region.
His participation further reflects Sri Lanka’s active contribution to regional civil aviation cooperation and its continued commitment to the advancement of safe, secure, sustainable and efficient civil aviation.
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Seven States are now collaborating and sharing safety data and information to enhance aviation safety
Sri Lanka and Vietnam have strengthened regional cooperation in aviation safety by formally joining the Regional Aviation Safety Data and Information Sharing Initiative, bringing the total number of participating States to seven — Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CAASL) and the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) formally joined the initiative on 8 September 2026, on the sidelines of the 61st Conference of Directors General of Civil Aviation, being held in Malaysia from 7 to 11 September 2026.
The agreement was signed by representatives of the participating civil aviation authorities, including Captain Daminda Rambukwella, Director General of Civil Aviation and Chief Executive Officer of CAASL, and Mr Do Hong Cam, Deputy Director General of CAAV, in the presence of senior officials of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
The initiative enables participating States to share de-identified aviation safety data and information to identify emerging hazards, analyse regional safety trends and support the development of measures to better manage aviation safety risks.
Since its establishment, the initiative has continued to expand both in participation and in the scope of safety information being shared. In 2025, the number of safety occurrence categories increased from seven to ten, with the addition of runway incursions, unstable approaches that continued to land, and wildlife sightings excluding birds.
More than 13,000 safety reports have been pooled through the initiative, covering the period from January 2023 to April 2026. Analysis of the combined data has provided valuable insights into regional safety trends that may not be evident from the data of an individual State alone.
For Sri Lanka, participation in the initiative supports the objectives of the National Aviation Safety Plan (NASP) by strengthening data-driven safety oversight, enhancing the sharing and analysis of safety information, and supporting the identification and mitigation of aviation safety risks.
Sri Lanka’s participation further demonstrates its commitment to regional cooperation and strengthening aviation safety through data-driven approaches across the Asia-Pacific region.
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Sri Lanka and the Sultanate of Oman discussed further strengthening cooperation in civil aviation, with particular focus on the operation and development of Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport, enhancing direct air connectivity and expanding airline services between the two countries.
The meeting took place today in Kuala Lumpur at the 61st Conference of Directors General of Civil Aviation, Asia and Pacific Region (DGCA/61) between Capt. Daminda Rambukwella, Director General of Civil Aviation and Chief Executive Officer of the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CAASL), and Eng. Naif bin Ali Al Abri, President of the Civil Aviation Authority of Oman.
A key focus of the discussion was Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA), with Eng. Naif bin Ali Al Abri expressing interest in its operations and future development potential.
The two officials also discussed the resumption of direct flights between Sri Lanka and Oman through SriLankan Airlines, the possible resumption of Oman Air services between Muscat and Sri Lanka, and increasing the frequency of existing SalamAir services.
The expansion of air connectivity between the two countries is expected to support the growth of tourism, trade and business while strengthening people-to-people links between Sri Lanka and Oman.
Eng. Naif bin Ali Al Abri also requested Sri Lanka’s support for a special International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) meeting scheduled to be held in Oman. Sri Lanka expressed its willingness to provide the necessary support.
As part of efforts to further strengthen bilateral aviation relations, Eng. Naif bin Ali Al Abri invited the Minister of Ports and Civil Aviation, the Deputy Minister, the Secretary to the Ministry and Capt. Daminda Rambukwella to visit Oman. Capt. Daminda Rambukwella also extended an invitation to the Chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Oman to visit Sri Lanka.
The meeting further strengthened the foundation for closer Sri Lanka–Oman cooperation in civil aviation, airport development and international air connectivity.
ශ්රී ලංකාව සහ ඕමානය අතර සිවිල් ගුවන්සේවා සහයෝගීතාව තවදුරටත් ශක්තිමත් කිරීම පිළිබඳ ඉහළ පෙළේ සාකච්ඡාවක් – මත්තල රාජපක්ෂ ජාත්යන්තර ගුවන්තොටුපළේ මෙහෙයුම් පිළිබඳ අවධානය
ශ්රී ලංකාව සහ ඕමාන් සුල්තාන් රාජ්යය අතර සිවිල් ගුවන්සේවා ක්ෂේත්රයේ සහයෝගීතාව තවදුරටත් ශක්තිමත් කිරීම පිළිබඳ සාකච්ඡාවක් අද මැලේසියාවේ ක්වාලාලම්පූර් නුවරදී පැවැත්විණි. මෙහිදී විශේෂ අවධානයක් යොමු වූයේ මත්තල රාජපක්ෂ ජාත්යන්තර ගුවන්තොටුපළේ මෙහෙයුම් හා සංවර්ධනය, දෙරට අතර සෘජු ගුවන් සම්බන්ධතා වැඩිදියුණු කිරීම සහ ගුවන්සේවා පුළුල් කිරීම පිළිබඳවය.
61 වන ආසියා හා පැසිෆික් කලාපීය සිවිල් ගුවන්සේවා අධ්යක්ෂ ජනරාල්වරුන්ගේ සමුළුව (DGCA/61) පැවැත්වෙන අතරතුර පැවති මෙම ද්විපාර්ශ්වික හමුවේදී, ශ්රී ලංකා සිවිල් ගුවන්සේවා අධිකාරියේ අධ්යක්ෂ ජනරාල් හා ප්රධාන විධායක නිලධාරී කපිතාන් දමින්ද රඹුක්වැල්ල මහතා සහ ඕමාන් සිවිල් ගුවන්සේවා අධිකාරියේ සභාපති ඉංජිනේරු නයිෆ් බින් අලි අල් අබ්රි මහතා අතර අදහස් හුවමාරුව සිදු විය.
සාකච්ඡාවේ ප්රධාන අවධානයක් යොමු වූයේ මත්තල රාජපක්ෂ ජාත්යන්තර ගුවන්තොටුපළ (MRIA) සම්බන්ධයෙනි. එහිදී ඉංජිනේරු නයිෆ් බින් අලි අල් අබ්රි මහතා මත්තල ජාත්යන්තර ගුවන්තොටුපළේ මෙහෙයුම් සහ එහි අනාගත සංවර්ධන හැකියාව පිළිබඳව සිය උනන්දුව පළ කළේය.
එමෙන්ම, ශ්රී ලංකන් ගුවන්සේවය හරහා ශ්රී ලංකාව සහ ඕමානය අතර සෘජු ගුවන් ගමන් නැවත ආරම්භ කිරීම, ඕමාන් එයාර් ගුවන්සේවය මස්කට් සහ ශ්රී ලංකාව අතර ක්රියාත්මක කළ ගුවන්සේවා නැවත ආරම්භ කිරීමේ හැකියාව සහ දැනට ක්රියාත්මක SalamAir ගුවන් සේවයේ ගුවන් ගමන් වාර සංඛ්යාව වැඩි කිරීම පිළිබඳවද සාකච්ඡා කෙරිණි.
දෙරට අතර ගුවන් සම්බන්ධතා පුළුල් කිරීම තුළින් සංචාරක කර්මාන්තය, වෙළෙඳාම සහ ව්යාපාරික කටයුතු වර්ධනය කිරීමට මෙන්ම ශ්රී ලංකාව සහ ඕමානය අතර සබඳතා තවදුරටත් ශක්තිමත් කිරීමට ද අවස්ථාව සැලසෙනු ඇත.
තවද, ඕමානයේ පැවැත්වීමට නියමිත විශේෂ ජාත්යන්තර සිවිල් ගුවන්සේවා සංවිධානයේ (ICAO) රැස්වීමක් සඳහා ශ්රී ලංකාවේ සහයෝගය ලබාදෙන ලෙස ඉංජිනේරු නයිෆ් බින් අලි අල් අබ්රි මහතා ඉල්ලීමක් කළ අතර, ඒ සඳහා අවශ්ය සහයෝගය ලබාදීමට ශ්රී ලංකාව සිය කැමැත්ත පළ කළේය.
දෙරට අතර ද්විපාර්ශ්වික ගුවන්සේවා සබඳතා තවදුරටත් ශක්තිමත් කිරීමේ අරමුණින්, ශ්රී ලංකාවේ වරාය හා සිවිල් ගුවන්සේවා අමාත්යවරයා, නියෝජ්ය අමාත්යවරයා, අමාත්යාංශ ලේකම්වරයා සහ කපිතාන් දමින්ද රඹුක්වැල්ල මහතාට ඕමානයේ සංචාරයක නිරත වන ලෙස ඉංජිනේරු නයිෆ් බින් අලි අල් අබ්රි මහතා විසින් ආරාධනා කරන ලදී. එමෙන්ම, ඕමාන් සිවිල් ගුවන්සේවා අධිකාරියේ සභාපතිවරයාට ශ්රී ලංකාවේ සංචාරයක නිරත වන ලෙස කපිතාන් දමින්ද රඹුක්වැල්ල මහතා විසින් ආරාධනා කරන ලදී.
මෙම හමුව තුළින් ශ්රී ලංකාව සහ ඕමානය අතර සිවිල් ගුවන්සේවා ක්ෂේත්රයේ සහයෝගීතාව, ගුවන්තොටුපළ සංවර්ධනය සහ ජාත්යන්තර ගුවන් සම්බන්ධතා තවදුරටත් පුළුල් කිරීම සඳහා ශක්තිමත් පදනමක් ගොඩනැගීමට හැකි විය.
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