Capt. Abeywickrama had his primary and higher education at Richmond College, Galle and flying training with Sierra Academy of Aeronautics in Oakland, California. He is the son of the late Sumandasa Abeywickrama, a landed proprietor turned politician, Member of Parliament and a Minister from 1977 to 1983 and Enid Abeywickrama, Principal of Nurses Training School in Galle in the late 1960s. He is married to Wasanthi Kumari and his only son Pansilu runs his own IT and travel related company. Capt. Abeywickrama has two siblings, brother Sathis and sister Dilani Senaratne.
Capt. Abeywickrama 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 the 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 initiated the introduction of the Kingfisher wide body fleet instructor and pilot training as per the Indian Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s rules and regulations and was also recognised 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 CAASL and was responsible for implementing innovative cadet pilot induction and training programs. In this role, he had to fulfil many regulatory requirements of the CAASL on behalf of the Airline. In addition to conducting acceptance test flights when inducting new aircraft, Capt. Abeywickrama was also involved in conducting special and VVIP flights.
He 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 authorised to conduct new aircraft acceptance test flights for Himalayan.
Capt. Abeywickrama was entrusted to command the Nepalese Prime Minister’s visit to China.
From Himalaya Airlines, he 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 Directorate General of Civil Aviation. He enabled the Airline to obtain its Air Operator Certificate and coordinated the operations of the Airline to the neighbouring 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, were done by Capt. Abeywickrama.
Just prior to assuming the office of Director General of Civil Aviation, he was a Senior Captain at Jazeera Airways in Kuwait.
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.
CAASL expressed confidence that, given his wide industry experience, Capt. Abeywickrama will take the civil aviation industry in Sri Lanka to greater heights.
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