transport troops between India and Sri Lanka. On 5 October 1987 around a dozen members of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), whom the Sri Lankan military were going to fly to Colombo to face criminal charges related to killing rival Tamil militants, committed suicide on the tarmac at Palaly airport by consuming cyanide capsules. Among the dead were two senior LTTE commanders - Kumarappa (Jaffna commander) and Pulendran (Trincomalee commander). In 1989, as the IPKF were preparing to withdraw from Sri Lanka, paramilitaries belonging to Indian backed groups such as the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front escaped to Colombo via Palaly airport. They were each charged Rs. 5,000 by the SLAF - a standard return flight cost only Rs. 3,000 at that time. During the early 1990s the airport and surrounding areas were declared a High Security Zone and all the residents were expelled. Between 1990 and 1995 this High Security Zone was the only government controlled territory on the Valikamam region. After the Valikamam was recaptured by the Sri Lankan military in 1995 the airport served as a vital link to the rest of the country as the land route was controlled by the LTTE. The SLAF then started a regular service between Palaly and Colombo. The SLAF's Helitours arm provided civilian flights using aircraft and crew leased from the former Soviet Union. Lionair started operating flights for civilians between Palaly and Ratmalana in August 1996, taking over from the SLAF, and doubled fares. Lionair had a profitable monopoly until March 1998 when Monara Airlines started flights on the same route. Monara suspended its services on 16 September 1998 after receiving threats from the LTTE for carrying military personnel. On 29 September 1998 Lionair Flight 602 left the airport around 1.48pm bound for Ratmalana Airport. At 2.10 pm it was reported missing. Locals reported seeing the plane plunge into the sea near Iranaitivu, north of Mannar. All 55 on board were killed. The LTTE was accused of shooting down the flight. Lionair suspended flights to Palaly immediately. Following the Norwegian facilitated ceasefire, civilian flights resumed from Palaly in June 2002 when ExpoAir started operating flights between Palaly and Ratmalana. The flights became very popular and at its peak ExpoAir was operating four flights a day using two 52-seater Fokker F27-500 planes. Post-civil war ExpoAir suspended services in 2010 due to a drop in demand but services