Sri Lanka Airports

How many times over the years and in how many iterations has a new domestical terminal been announced and promised? Atleast 10?!
Every few months one is announced yet nothing visible ever seems to take place.
I doubt this one will ever get off the ground. Oh well, it's made me laugh on this Friday afternoon.

BIA to get a domestic flight terminal



The Government is to build a separate new terminal at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) for the use of domestic flights in order to promote domestic air travel for the benefit of tourists, with the development of all domestic airports and using bigger aircraft.

The Cabinet Approval was granted for a proposal made for this purpose jointly by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as the Minister of National Policies and Economic Affairs and State Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation Asoka Abeysinghe last week.

Accordingly, the National Agency for Public-Private Partnership (NAPPP), with the assistance of the Director General Civil Aviation (DGCA) has called for Expression of Interests (EOIs) to set up scheduled domestic air services and five investment proposals have been received

They are- Saffron Aviation, FITS Aviation, SJ Global Investments, Lotus Air and IWS Aviation.

These companies are ready to use bigger aircraft with more seating capacity up to 118 seats for domestic flights from their own investment.

These Expressions of Interest (EOI) s have been evaluated by a committee composing Director General of Civil Aviation, the NAPPP Chairman and Executive Director Airport and Aviation Services.

Based on the evaluation of the proposals made by prospective investors and several post-bid discussions, a few recommendations have been made by the committee:

Each of those who responded to the EOI may submit applications to the DG-CA for required licenses, permits and facilities for operations and such permits shall be provided on a first come first served basis.

The domestic terminal to be created at BIA for common use on identified AASL land. Also, there is no hangar space at BIA for each operator separately, but one hangar to be constructed for maintenance work of all domestic operators.

A portion of Apron D at the BIA to be designated as Domestic Apron for use of domestic flight enabling application of different charging mechanisms and avoiding possible complaints by foreign airlines for discriminatory practices at the international airport.

Hangar space to be provided at Ratmalana for night parking of aircraft as this cannot be done at BIA.

Batticaloa, Sigiriya, Palali, Hingurakgoda, Koggala and Trincomalee to be made available in Phase 1 for scheduled carriers on a needs basis.

Domestic aviation needs to be carried out under the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) rules in conformity with international standards. As such, CAA and SLAF would jointly work out modalities for Trincomalee, Sigiriya, Palali, Hingurakgoda and Koggala airports to ensure that all civilian operations at these airports are carried out under CAA rules.

Self-handling by private operators will be permitted other than at BIA. Ground handling charges and cargo rates OF BIA to be revised downward for domestic carriers in consultation with Sri Lankan Airlines.

Suitable arrangements to be made for fuel supply at each airport through SLAF or CPC. Allocation of slots will be subject to providing priority to international, SLAF and VIP air traffic as determined by DGCA

Due to constraints faced by private operators, the DGCA in consultation with the Ministry of Defense and UDA to identify few locations in Colombo City for passenger pick-up and drop-off. (Sandun A Jayasekera) (daily mirror)

Joke of the century

Re-instate the Rule of Law.

Cut the losses - close down the Airport and UL. There is no way to ever make these profitable.

Prosecute those responsible and strip them of their illegally obtained assets. Almost $20 Billion was transferred out of the country during 10 years of Family Rule. Recover this money and use it to pay off the country's debt.

Kick the Chinese out.

Vote every single Politician currently in Parliament out of Office and hold them accountable for the state of the country.

Elect some better people - term limits for all. And full accountability!

Hows that?

Instead of wasting more money, they should move the air force base to Hingurangoda from BIA and use that money to put up a second runway.

A 2nd runway is the most urgent need ATM instead of setting up a airport somewhere and trying to figure out why no one is flying there.

What is your suggestion for a way out of the loss making venture??

There's no money - so it doesn't really matter what they want!

Just more "Big Talk" imho.

Joke of the year..... 3 airports for a such small country, we r still even struggling to utilize HRI, now another one...

What a waste! HRI is struggling and CMB is in a dilapidated condition first soft these out then think about what to do afterwards

Sri Lanka is going to get a third International Airport that will be contructed in Hingurukgoda as per the Master Plan that had been drawn up for the development of Trincomalee, which was handed over to to Prime Ministed Ranil Wickremesinghe by Singaporean Consultancy group Surbana Jurong at Temple Tree.



Should Sri Lanka contruct an seperate International in Hingurukgoda instead of developing the Colombo Bandaranaike International Airport which urgently needs the terminal expansion. Why Sri Lanka didn't want to develop the existing the Trincomalee airport instead of building the new airport from the scratch?

People need to understand a few things

- The country is bankrupt. They are unable to cover the loan costs on about $12 Billion of debt.

- The IMF has had to step in to prevent a complete Economic Collapse. The IMF is running the country - you won't find any Politician that will admit this.

- The IMF has told the GOSL to sell or close down various SOEs including this airport. This is a condition of getting further money from the IMF.

- The GOSL has no choice in the matter.



There are people responsible for this situation - One man and his Hubris has destroyed the country. The reason these people want to get back in power is to prevent any investigations or legal action ever seeing the light of day.

I would encourage people to do their own research - including the excellent NY Times article which appears to be 100% accurate.

Never believe anything until it has been officially denied!

More than 90 per cent airports run by the state-owned agency Airports Authority of India (AAI) are running into losses, according to government data. In 2016-2017, the AAI could generate revenue from only eight of the total 102 airports it manages in the country. Delhi’s Safdarjung Airport, which is occasionally used for VVIP chopper flights, incurred the maximum losses of over Rs 92 crore followed by airports at Amritsar and Bhopal which saw losses of Rs 50.52 crore and Rs 49.53 crore respectively.



Our Government making the wrong move by handing over operations of MRIA to AAI and it will create more problems.

Not defending anyone but this could be actually one of their better decisions given how much of a white elephant Mattala is. India pays 70% of the debt back and its unlikely to be properly developed (unlike if the Chinese buy/lease it). As such BIA won't face competition from a second airport. The money received from India could also be used to develop BIA.

Also given that our guys are unable to fix UL, going by your logic they also shouldn't manage Mattala.

Good move!

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SL, India 40-year joint venture for Mattala Airport
• India will control 70% while SL would have 30%
•Railway lines and highway to be extended to MRIA
•Minister assures no threat to national security
By Skandha Gunasekara

The Government will enter into a 40-year joint venture with India to salvage the loss-incurring Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA), Parliament was told yesterday.

Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation Nimal Siripala De Silva, taking part in yesterday’s adjournment debate on the fate of the MRIA, asserted that there was no move to sell the Airport.

“The Mattala Airport has been incurring heavy losses since its inception. Its accumulated loss since it was opened in 2013 is Rs. 20 billion. We need to revitalise this dying Airport, but we cannot do it alone. We need investors. In 2016, I presented a Cabinet paper to this effect to seek international investors to revive the Airport. However, we didn’t receive any favourable response. Then, India offered to help us. So, we are now in discussion with India to enter into a joint venture to revive the MRIA,” the Minister said.

The Minister said that India would most likely control 70% while the Government would control 30%.

“India will control 70% of MRIA. We are still in discussion regarding the conditions of the joint venture. We still need to decide on matters such as future investments.”

Dismissing opposition claims that the deal may result in a threat to national security, the Minister said that India would have no say in security matters.

“All security matters will be dealt by Sri Lanka. Even the air traffic controller will be under us,” he said, adding that 70% of losses incurred by the Airport would be borne by India through the joint venture.

In addition, the Minister noted that plans were underway to extend both the railway lines and the highway up to MRIA.

“Once the railway lines and the highway are connected to the Airport, both tourism and trade can be increased,” Minister De Silva said.

The adjournment motion was submitted by Joint Opposition MP Kanaka Herath.

MP Herath, opening the debate, charged that the Government was planning to sell MRIA to India.

“If we sell this Airport, it will be detrimental to our country. We shouldn’t be selling our national assets. Plus, selling it to India will be a threat to our national security,” MP Herath said.

Air India is stuck with US$8 billion in debt and reported losses of almost $1.2 billion for the financial year ending March 2017.

Our neighbour unable fix its own national carrier, now they want to invest in our mattala airport, what a joke!!

Foolish decision by the government to handover the operations of our airport to our neighbour.

So what is the business strategy? Nothing.

Good Governance becoming Idiotic Governance.