Jan 26, Colombo: The commercial arm of Sri Lanka Air Force, Heli Tours has been selected as the official Air Logistic Operations provider for the oil exploration Mannar Basin.

Cairn Sri Lanka will start its second phase of the exploratory drilling for oil in the Mannar Basin from next week onwards and Helitours has been selected to provide air logistics operations for the entire operation, according to the Sri Lanka Air Force.

Helitours is a venture established company of the Sri Lanka Air Force. The company utilizes trouble-free all turbine engine aircraft equipped with twin-engines for passenger tours. The fleet contains a total of 13 aircraft including 2 Bell 412, 2 Bell 206, 4 Harbin Y-12, 3 MI-17, and 2 Xian MA 60.

The service expects to expand by adding 16 helicopters by the end of 2013 and 6 narrow-body jet aircraft in the future.