Sri Lanka Airports

I guess nothing's getting built anytime soon then!

Govt. gets tough with Japan on new BIA terminal

The Government has given the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) time till Wednesday (15) to agree to renegotiate the cost of construction of the second terminal of the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA).

Minister instructs to resume operations at Mattala Airport soon

FR24 has updated Jaffna Air port (JAF/VCCJ) in their MAP, i have uploaded JAF airport to Jetphotos but still not being updated the photo..

Sri Lanka set to launch development plan to upgrade airports
Source: Xinhua| 2019-12-17 19:50:51|
COLOMBO, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka will launch a new program early next year to develop and upgrade the island's main airports in order to boost local and international tourism, Minister of Industrial Exports, Investment Promotion, Tourism and Aviation Prasanna Ranatunga said here Tuesday.

Ranatunga told Xinhua that with Sri Lanka aiming to attract at least 10 million tourists per year by 2025, the government would look to expand and develop the existing airports, namely the Bandaranaike International Airport, on the outskirts of the capital, the Jaffna International Airport in the north, the Mattala international airport, in the south and the Batticaloa Airport in the east.

"Further development of these airports will not only help tourism growth, but it will also strengthen internal air transportation. This will be vital for business as well," Ranatunga said.

The minister further said that with a free trade zone proposed to be set up close to the Mattala international airport, in the south, the government would invite more international airlines to land there in order to attract investors.

Last week, Ranatunga said Sri Lanka was aiming to attract at least 2.5 million tourists by next year and 10 million tourists by 2025, and it will look to boost arrivals from India and China.

BIA expansion to go ahead with Japanese assistance

The Minister said that this government has given priority for this project and expect to complete it on January next year.

India provides a Rs 300 million grant for the development of the ...passenger terminal of Jaffna International Airport

Jaffna International Airport

BIA expansion will be expedited – Prasanna

Minister Prasanna Ranatunga in the inspection tour at the BIA yesterday.
Industrial Export and Investment Promotion, Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister Prasanna Ranatunga yesterday said that construction work on the BIA expansion project will be expedited by calling for tenders again. It was stalled midway by contractors associated with the former regime.

The Minister made an observation tour of the BIA yesterday.

He further said the airport capacity is only six million passengers, but 12 million use it annually. Therefore, this has created a huge congestion in the airport.


Former President and present PM Mahinda Rajapaksa had formulated several plans to construct terminal two and three in 2015. By this time, at least terminal two should have been completed, but so far, there is no progress, “he said.

The contractors associated with the powerful figures of the former regime are still dragging the construction projects. Even the officials of the Authority have to abide by their programmes. We will remove these contractors and call for new tenders to complete at least interior projects in the next six months,” the Minister said.

Source: Daily news

Well the moment, if we let LCC to start the business here.. UL will find its own destiny... eventhough that will benefit both tourism and LS aviation though....
ideally UL must its own LC (not like Mihin Lanka for sure) and then compete with regional LCC like SpieceJet, IndiGo, AirAsia etc....or have a joint venture with AirAsia on 50:50 basis and pump those revenue to UL at least for cost cover..
(emirates strategy was this only.. make UL a regional carrier while EK brings people here from main destinations (DXB, SIN etc..).. even it is not good for UL, SL tax money would have spent some other useful way then... as EK will ensure SL business will be a cash cow and not other way around...

i'm also doubtful what opportunities do we have in terms of being a cargo hub specially Mattala.. unless you get those MC's, FedEx, DHL to have their regional offices in that area...

With all the minimum required facilities in place, why not develop HRI as an LCC hub?

Lower Embarkation Taxes etc and it would most certainly attract LCC‘s back to Lanka

I’m pretty sure FlyDubai and AirArabia would resume operations, IndiGo and SpiceJet would come into the picture as well, not forgetting AirAsia and the Lion Air Group

The problem is that nobody seems to think out of the box to make this Airport work

A Cargo hub would be questionable since they would then need to have an efficient logistics system in place to transport consignments to Colombo

Wishful thinking
Let’s hope for the best

Sri Lanka Government to develop Mattala Airport as a Cargo Hub and a training facility

The Sri Lanka government will develop the Mattala Airport as a cargo hub and a training facility for aeronautical engineering in partnership with the private sector, a minister said today.

Industrial Export, Investment Promotion and Civil Aviation Minister Prasanna Ranatunga told Daily Mirror today that the Mattala Airport would be linked with the Hambantota port for cargo handling. Besides, he said it would be developed as a training facility for aeronautical engineering.

He said private sector partnership would be used for the management of the airport.

“The government alone cannot develop it. We need a private sector partnership to manage it. We have not decided whether it will be a foreign partnership or local,” he said.

The previous government planned to develop the airport with India. (Kelum Bandara)

Source: Daily Mirror

FitsAir, Alliance and SpiceJet are front-runners. Hopefully IndiGo will get into the picture too and we’d get to see some Q400’s and ATR’s in action

UL has missed the bus as usual as they do not have suitable aircraft to serve JAF

Good to know 80 seater aircraft can be able to land at Jaffna Airport. Hope the runway will be extended to land narrowbody aircraft like A320..

Any idea which of the 80 seater airline be able to fly Jaffna Airport? There are many people from Northern Sri Lanka are working in countries like India, Singapore, Malaysia, Oman, Dubai etc..

There are fears the Jaffna airport might become another Mattala airport? How would you respond to those fears?*

Before embarking on this project, comprehensive feasibility studies were conducted on the potential of the area, the expected increases on passenger traffic and growth in tourism opportunities.

For example, the total passenger movement from the Bandaranaike International Airport to five major airports (Trivandrum, Chennai, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi International Airports) in the Indian sector have been growing rapidly during the period of 2013-2018. The growth in 2018 compared to 2017 is 28%. Meanwhile, the average annual growth rate of Sri Lankans travelling to Indian destinations during 2013-2018 has been at 12%.

As a result, JIA will immediately play an important role in easing the general congestion in travel and operations at the main international airport by giving travellers an alternate option.

Moreover, many Sri Lankans travel year-round to India on Pilgrim Tourism. And travellers from India to Sri Lanka are increasing as India continues to be the highest tourist generating country for Sri Lanka.

With international flights between Jaffna and South India commencing operations, costs will be reduced by almost 50 per cent for thousands of local and international travellers and save them valuable travel time because they can now travel via Jaffna as opposed to the BIA.

The Jaffna International Airport has already commenced the operation of commercial flights with Alliance Air and FitsAir. The schedules of these airlines have been confirmed already and is fully operational.

Additionally, negotiations with other targeted airlines are going positively, and we expect many more operators to come on board in the near future.

As mentioned before, this airport will be developed under three different phases, the first of which is complete, to maximise the return on our investment.

Phase 1 – Complete

A fully refurbished 1,400 m runway

Terminal building with 1,000sqm floor area and infrastructure upgraded to international standards

Airport opened to handle 80-seater aircrafts travelling nonstop to destinations within 900 km, covering southern parts of India, and the Maldives.

Phase 2 – 2020 to 2022

Runway to be extended up to 2,400 m

Navigation Aids installation

Weather Observation system installation

Terminal building capacity expansion

Day and Night operations with new Airfield Lighting

Airport upgraded to handle 150-seater Airbus A320s.

Phase 3 – 2022 onwards

Runway to be extended up to 3,200 m

Additional Navigation Aids installation

Wide Area Multi-lateration system

Airfield Lighting expansion

Airport upgraded to handle 200-seater Airbus A321s.

*

Jaffna is Sri Lanka’s third international airport. Yet there is a concern that the first airport, the Bandaranaike International Airport*lacks the look, feel and facilities to match that of an international airport. What steps are you taking to convert BIA into a world class airport?

The Bandaranaike International Airport was built to accommodate up to 6 million passengers, but today it sees traffic of over 10 million passengers. As such, by January 2020, there will upgrades and expansions of up to 3,000sqm to the current terminal to facilitate better passenger movement.

There onwards, the proposed new terminal of BIA is designed to reflect a world-class image and standard of excellence for international airport architecture. The design of the terminal building reflects Sri Lanka’s rich culture and heritage which will create a memorable experience for visitors.

The following improvements and upgrades are set to take place under the Bandaranaike International Airport Projects Phase II Stage 2 Package B ‘Remote Apron and Taxiways’:

The new proposed terminal of 180,000 m2*will enhance the passenger handling capacity up to 15 million;

A remote apron which as 23 aircraft parking stands will be constructed, bringing the total number of stands to 48;

Construction of taxiways;

Construction of GSE (Ground Support Equipment) Roads;

Installation of aerodrome ground lights incorporating energy saving technologies;

Enhancement of power supply system;

Installation of utility systems, including water supply system and sewage disposal system;

Storm water drainage system and retention pond

Construction of a bulk store import building.

In-line Baggage Screening system and Cabin Baggage screening system with Explosive Detection capabilities

Furthermore, the following facilities will be added at BIA

96 Check-in counters

32 Departure passport control counters

16 Contact gates

10 Bus gates increase

06 airline lounges

56 arrival passport control counters

07 baggage claim Carousels

07 Baggage make-up Carousels

*

And what plans for Mattala, which was once seen as a ‘white elephant’ project?

When you initially consider the population and movement in the Hambantota area, it doesn’t hold the same potential for growth as Jaffna. However, with the growth of tourism into the country, we can expect additional flight requirements, which is where the Mattala airport will come in.

Additionally, we can expect growth as a result of the Hambantota Port, and this can be further increased if plans to establish industrial zones are actioned.

What we have to remember is that while setting up the necessary infrastructure is important, it is equally vital to promote our tourism sector so that the established infrastructure can be used to their maximum.

Source:Colombo Gazette