Five-year plan to transform Mattala International Airport

Monday, 5 April 2021 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport

An integrated five-year plan is underway to transform the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport into a commercially busy and viable facility in South Asia.

Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga said that Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) Ltd. had presented a five-year development plan to transform Mattala International Airport (MRIA) into an attractive and active aviation hub in the Indian Ocean.

Themed ‘An exotic tourism destination,’ the development plan is expected to transform MRIA by the year 2025 to be up and running similar to the country’s main airport in Katunayake.

Mattala Airport is designed to handle one million passengers and 45,000 metric tons of cargo per year. The new plan aims to directly contribute to the development of the country’s economy whilst making the airport more active and attractive for the tourists.

According to the five-year plan, discussions have already commenced with the world’s leading airlines on the instructions of Minister Ranatunga to increase air traffic to make MRIA one of the most successful airports in South Asia.

“Under this development plan, a duty-free shopping complex has been added to be included in the five-year plan to attract tourists to MRIA. A tourism promotion initiative is also in operation covering all the tourist facilities associated with the airport,” Ranatunga said.

Accordingly, an integrated plan is also in place to develop the social and economic background required to promote MRIA as an attractive foreign tourist destination.

In addition, a number of programs are being implemented to attract airlines and it is expected that the operations of the airport, which were disrupted due to the COVID pandemic, will be able to continue at maximum capacity in the coming years.

The Government has also focused on the implementation of the Hambantota Port and Airport Integrated Program through the establishment of Investment Zones associated with the MRIA and the reactivation of the Hambantota Development Plan.

Since the reopening of the airport post-COVID over 170 aircraft have arrived at the MRIA bringing over 15,000 passengers of whom 5,062 were foreign tourists.