Sri Lanka flag-carrier ditches ex-president's 'vanity' airport

DailyMail – AFP, 17 Jn 2015

Cultural performers dance after the landing of a Sri Lankan airlines Airbus A-340
carrying President Mahinda Rajapakse, the first passenger at the new Mattala
 Rajapaksa International Airport in Mattala, on March 18, 2013 (Ishara S.Kodikara/
AFP/File)

  

Sri Lanka's national airline on Saturday announced it will stop all flights to the country's second international airport built and named after Mahinda Rajapakse, after he was defeated in last week's presidential elections.

Sri Lankan Airlines said operating flights via the Rajapakse International airport in the former president's home constituency of Hambantota was a huge drain on the already heavily debt-laden carrier.

The state-owned airline -- under new management after new President Maithripala Sirisena assumed office last week -- has decided to cut back uneconomical flights, including operations via Rajapakse International.

"This translates to an annual bottom line improvement of approximately $18 million," the airline said in a statement.

The airline is weighed down with debts of nearly $650 million.

Rajapakse opened his pet-project airport in March 2013, hoping it would become a new economic hub and act as a gateway to the island's southeast.

But the former government said in parliament that the airport earned 16,000 rupees ($125) in the month of May last year, recording a turnover less than that of a corner grocery store.

The only foreign airlines which operate services through the airport are UAE-based Fly Dubai and Rotana Jet Aviation.

Two budget carriers pulled out of the airport last year saying it was uneconomical due to insufficient traffic, but Sri Lankan Airlines maintained flights for political reasons, according to official sources.

Local media dismissed the airport as a vanity project for Rajapakse who had also named a sea port, a performing arts centre and a conventions centre after himself.

Built with funding from China's Export-Import Bank, the new $206 million facility could accommodate the Airbus A380, the biggest airliner in service. Attempts to attract an aircraft maintenance facility there had drawn a blank.

Last week's election was fought partly on allegations of corruption and waste by the Rajapakse administration, which is facing allegations of padding infrastructure projects to syphon off money.

Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse (C) waves outside a

polling station in his native town of Tangalla, about 195 kms from

the capital Colombo on January 8, 2015 (Photo by Lakruwan

Wanniarachchi / AFP)

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President Rajapaska of moving the country "towards a dictatorship."

"Recalibration of Knowledge" – Jan 14, 2012 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Channelling, God-Creator, Benevolent Design, New Energy, Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Reincarnation, Gaia, Old Energies (Africa, Terrorists, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela ... ), Weather, Rejuvenation, Akash, Nicolas Tesla / Einstein, Cold Fusion, Magnetics, Lemuria, Atomic Structure (Electrons, Particles, Polarity, Self Balancing, Magnetism), Entanglement, "Life is necessary for a Universe to exist and not the other way around", DNA, Humans (Baby getting ready, First Breath, Stem Cells, Embryonic Stem Cells, Rejuvenation), Global Unity, ... etc.) - (Text Version)

“…  I want you to watch some countries. I don't have a clock [this statement is Kryon telling us that there is no time frame on his side of the veil, only potentials]. I'll just tell you, it's imminent [in Spirit's timing, this could mean as soon as a decade]. I want you to watch some countries carefully for changes. You're going to be seeing changes that are obvious, and some that are not obvious [covert or assumptive]. But the obvious ones you will see sooner than not - Cuba, Korea [North], Iran, of course, and Venezuela. I want you to watch what happens when they start to realize that they don't have any more allies on Earth! Even their brothers who used to support them in their hatred of some are saying, "Well, perhaps not anymore. It doesn't seem to be supporting us anymore." Watch the synchronicities that are occurring. The leaders who have either died or are going to in the next year or so will take with them the old ways. Watch what happens to those who take their place, and remember these meetings where I described these potentials to you. …”

US-Cuba thaw could spell end for island's iconic cars

Yahoo – AFP, Alexandre Grosbois, 21 Dec 2014

Old American cars are seen on a street in Havana, Cuba, on December 19, 

2014 (AFP Photo/Yamil Lage)

Havana (AFP) - Cuba's iconic stock of refurbished vintage American sedans from the 1950s may be facing their last trips to the garage soon, following the historic thawing of ties between Havana and Washington.

Flashy Pontiacs, Plymouths, Dodges and Chevrolets, as well as crudely patched and rickety classics make up the Communist island's 70,000 "almendrones," cars affectionately called large almonds for their rounded shape.

Fancier classic models are rented for special occasions while their more rundown counterparts are driven as taxis and by families.

An old American car is seen on a 

street in Havana, Cuba, on December

19, 2014 (AFP Photo/Yamil Lage)

But they all have one thing in common: they survived the Cuban Revolution, the Cold War, and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The almendrones owe their lasting nature to the master skills of local mechanics, as well as to the American embargo and Cuban authorities who put the brakes on replenishing the the island's stock of cars.

Purchasing and selling the vehicles, which has only been allowed for the past three years, is only permitted for Cubans.

'Puts food on table'

The easing of the five-decade US trade embargo, one part of the rapprochement announced Wednesday, is likely to awaken the attention and desire of car connoisseurs worldwide, who are eager to snatch up the classic models.

"You would have to pay me good money to sell my car," Aramis Carmona, 40, told AFP, watching tourists from his white and red 1953 Chevy with hubcaps and a chrome bumper.

"It puts food on the table," the amateur mechanic said. "When I have a little money, I buy motor oil instead of cooking oil, because I know that that will help me feed my family."

He said he had given new life to the "wreck" he bought ten years ago for $7,000.

During the Revolution, Fidel rode around in an Oldsmobile with guns hidden in the seat. Ernesto "Che" Guevara went for rides, cigar in mouth, at the wheel of a Studebaker.

This was before Cuba decided to swap its Western cars for more "revolutionary" vehicles, like the famous Russian GAZ-69 jeep adopted by "El Comandante" Castro.

Never blotted out

In the 1960s and 1970s, Peugeot 404s made in Argentina, then Czech Skodas and Soviet Ladas tried to take over the road but with limited success, as the vintage American models kept passing from hand to hand.

Peugeots and Chinese models appeared on Cuban roads in the 1990s and 2000s, but they, too, never overpowered the omnipresent American classics.

Old American cars are seen in Havana, Cuba, on December 19, 2014 

(AFP Photo/Yamil Lage)

However, few original parts remain under the cars' hoods after numerous patchups from crack mechanics who have brought them back from the dead multiple times.

Carmona said that he replaced his Chevy's original motor four years ago with a BMW diesel model that consumed far less fuel. The original went only 6 kilometers per liter (14 miles per gallon).

British architect Norman Foster, struck by the cars' looks and upkeep during a recent trip to Cuba, paid tribute in the book "Havana: Autos and Architecture," where he describes a tight relationship between the island's history and its vehicles.

He tells of Ruben Hernandez, who in 1951 bought a Buick Super Dynaflow. In 1959, his family's belongings were confiscated in the Cuban Revolution, but Hernandez managed to save the car.

The collector's item now belongs to his youngest son William Hernandez, who inherited it in 1989.

Since then, he's taken it every day to display alongside other flashy cars at Havana's tourist hot spots. For $25 per hour, he offers passersby a ride back in time, in a vehicle whose days may now be limited.

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