Sri Lankan Airlines cancels flights to Mattala from tomorrow

The official said that Mattala is a white elephant and that few are using the airline from Mattala. He added that they haven’t taken a decision on Mihin Lanka, while industry sources say that Flydubai and Rotana Jet carriers that are using the Mattala Airport will also stop flights there when the national carrier stops flights

Aviation Industry - Sri Lanka

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News, in Dailymirror

Antonov Lands in MRIA

Alternate News in other "media"

PLANE LANDS IN MRIA

could not stop laughing ROTFL

Antonov lands at Mattala

An Antonov cargo aircraft flying from the US with 19 crew members landed at the Mattala Mahinda Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) this morning.

Airport officials said the aircraft would leave for Australia tonight.



- See more at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/61799/v-la....YHuZA16S.dpuf

Is this a recent visit?

tech stop ?

Expansion of Sri Lanka's international airport with Japanese funds to continue

This is probably going to sound like I've been smoking something, but I am trying to think out of the box here for the "HRI solution".. is it even feasible/possible to dismantle the terminal and move it to CMB (as part of the CMB expansion), or else move it to a more deserving airport, such as Jaffna?

The only real second city in Sri Lanka that warrants such a piece of infrastructure would be Jaffna. This used to be a former international airport, after all.

Having to decommission such a vital piece of infrastructure seems like such a sad story, but if it has to happen, it has to happen.

Mattala Rajapaksa airport fails to take off as Sri Lanka’s newest destination

Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport in Sri Lanka’s south was planned as a major economic driver and point of entry for tourists.

There was even talk about the airport attracting leading airlines from all over the world. But two years after it opened, things have not taken off as planned for the country’s second international airport. Following the defeat of Mahinda Rajapaksa – whom the airport is named after – in the presidential elections last month, Sri Lankan Airlines announced that it was stopping flights to the destination.

The state-owned airline, which is struggling under debt, said that the flights were uneconomical.

Only two foreign carriers, flydubai and Abu Dhabi-based Rotana Jet, now fly to the airport, near the town of Hambantota.

Air Arabia, based in Sharjah, was the first international airline to fly to Mattala airport in 2013, only to suspend flights a few weeks later, with local reports citing low numbers of passengers as the reason.

A source familiar with the situation explained that airlines flying to Mattala airport were likely doing so only because it would have been a requirement imposed by authorities in exchange for granting flying rights into Sri Lanka. Far more development was needed around the airport before it would really be worth airlines flying to the destination, the source added.

An IT park, an international convention centre and a number of hotels, including a Shangri-La resort, are among plans for the Hambantota area. The Shangri-La hotel is expected to open in the fourth quarter of this year, according to the company’s website.

Other problems have beset the airport.

There have been three incidents in less than the space of a year involving birds – including a flock of peacocks – flying into planes near the airport, amid warnings by environmentalists that birds in the area were a serious threat to air traffic, according to a report in Sri Lanka’s Sunday Times.

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I told this from the beginning. poor banga boiya.

not aviation related, but I read somewhere that the Dehiwala zoo animals were about to be moved to Hambantota .. if true .. I am speechless !!

ecurelix there is more...

Sri Lanka mulls future of Rajapakse's white elephants

Hambantota, Sri Lanka---From a multi-million dollar airport ignored by airlines to a lavish cricket stadium rejected by players, Sri Lanka's new government is mulling the future of a string of white elephants.

Former president Mahinda Rajapakse ordered the state-of-the-art facilities built in his southern home town of Hambantota in extensive efforts to turn his rural constituency into a regional business hub.

Vast revenues were channelled into the vanity projects, mostly named after the former strongman who ruled the tropical island for a decade and was determined to keep the loss-making ventures open.

But Rajapakse's defeat at elections last month, partly due to corruption and cronyism charges, has saddled the new government with loans of close to a billion dollars and, as yet, no clear strategy to repay them.

"From an economist's point of view, we have to write off the investments," said Eran Wickramaratne, deputy minister of highways and investment promotion.

"We will have to repay the loans for a long time, but we can't expect any tangible return from them," he told AFP.

- Eerily empty -

Opened in 2013 after loans of $210 million, the Rajapakse International airport services just one airline, budget carrier flydubai.

The arrivals hall is eerily empty and the new government has ordered the terminal's air conditioning units and decorative water fountains switched off after the carrier's handful of daily passengers trickle through.

National carrier SriLankan Airlines, under orders by Rajapakse to land there, halted flights immediately after he was defeated at the January 8 polls by new President Maithripala Sirisena. The airline estimates savings of $18 million annually from the stoppage.

Built on a migratory route for birds, the airport has been disastrous for plane-bird collisions. And more recently it has become a highlight on a "white elephant tour" run by local tourist guides.

"The challenge for me is to energise this place," airport chief executive Derick Karunaratne told AFP.

"Just because there is an airport, airlines don't fly in. They want a destination and we are yet to build it," he said.

Located some 250 kilometres (180 miles) southeast of the capital Colombo, the town of Hambantota is an arid outpost, surrounded by farm land. But Rajapakse spent lavishly on the projects anyway, ignoring feasibility studies against the move and environmental warnings about building in an area home to elephants, leopards and bears.

- Port of debt -

The $361-million Chinese-funded harbour in Hambantota is deep in debt, but it does at least see some business from neighbouring India, whose ships full of new cars dock there en route around the world.

Officials say the port, which was meant to rival long established ones in Colombo, could break even in more than a decade.

In a bid to lure business away from Colombo, Rajapakse's government built a sparkling six-lane highway within Hambantota district and a $52 million flyover and interchange that sees little traffic. A railway line extension and another expressway linking the area to the capital are also under construction, costing millions more.

Overlooking the port is another extravagance -- a $15.5 million conference centre. After hosting a side event during the 2013 Commonwealth summit, its hall has stood empty, except for the occasional wedding reception.

AFP