Mattala International Airport losing Rs. 10 m monthly

Mattala International Airport is losing Rs. 10 million monthly according to Ports, Shipping and Aviation Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva.

He said since according to international air travel criteria Sri Lanka needs a second international airport for emergency landings, alternative sources of income should be found while minimising costs of maintaining the airport.

The Minister emphasised that steps should be taken to minimise the loss and maintain the Mattala International Airport as a productive airport with a minimum number of employees.

Nimal made this observation while participating in an inspection tour and a staff meeting at the Mattala International Airport on Saturday.

He pointed out that there are many problems and issues inherent in this airport.

Mattala...

Responding to a question raised by journalists, the Minister said that the Mattala Airport would never be sold.

He said if a good investor comes, the government intends to enter into a collective agreement with the investor as a joint venture to turn Mattala Airport into a profitable airport restructuring the airport administration.

“Today, the Mattala Airport is being maintained with the money earned by Katunayake Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) and the loan of $ 210 million obtained from China for the construction of this airport is to be repaid in instalments,” the Minister said.

Therefore, alternative proposals are being considered to increase the revenue of the Mattala Airport, the Minister said.

He said airlines have been invited to use the airport as a parking space and aircraft maintenance yard, but due to the current social situation in the country and the fuel and dollar crisis, investors and airlines are reluctant to do so.

Minister said it is not easy to attract investors, but the chairman of the Airport and Aviation Services, retired Major General G. A. Chandrasiri is making a great effort.

In addition, the Minister asked the officials to submit to him within two weeks the project proposals related to the use of the roof of the Mattala Airport for solar power generation.

It was revealed that 545 employees have been deployed at this airport where no flights arrive and some of these employees use a daily bus to transport them from Colombo to Mattala.

The Minister warned that if employees do not act with dedication and commitment at this juncture, unless tough management and management decisions are taken, the Mattala Airport is likely to collapse. Therefore, the Minister asked the officials to submit a report on the salaries and allowances of the top management and the staff management and restructuring plan within a month.

After considering the points made by the employees and the trade union officials, the Minister instructed the officials to construct a building on the premises of the airport within two months to accommodate about 200 employees essential to the operation of the airport.

The Minister also hoped that if a good image of the country is built and foreign tourist arrivals increase, it will be able to recover the airport from this loss-making situation.

“The airport is built on an elephant habitat. Therefore, the measures taken so far to prevent the frequent elephant entrances and attacks on the airport premises have failed,” he said.

The Minister instructed the officials to discuss the measures proposed by the Minister of Wildlife to cultivate elephant repelling sesame and hemp in the area between the airstrip security fence and the forest conservation boundary under the patronage of Minister Amaraweera within the next two weeks and take immediate steps to implement those measures.