Mattala Airport monthly revenue tops Rs.12.5 million
Shirajiv Sirimane (shirajivs@gmail.com)
The Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) handled 7.3 million passenger movements in 2013,22% in excess of its designed capacity, exhibiting a remarkable growth of 72% over a period of 5 years.
Of these, approximately 19% are transit movements, which indicates a growing potential for achieving passenger hub status. Cargo operations have also flourished with a throughput of 192,550 metric tonnes in 2013. In order to cope with the capacity problem the phase II stage 2 of BIA development project was launched in September 2014.
Sri Lanka’s aviation industry has snowballed into being a key player in the national economy now providing rapid international access via two international airports serving the two national carriers, SriLankan and Mihin and 23 other carriers connecting 60 destinations worldwide.
The commissioning of the Mattala – Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) at Hambantota in March 2013 in addition to enhancing the total national passenger and cargo handling capacity, has had a positive ripple effect of increasing the over flying air traffic within Sri Lanka’s assigned airspace by 100% with many operators opting to make their long-haul flights through it, given the enhanced emergency diversion capacity at Mattala. These include the ultra-high capacity modern aircraft like the Airbus 380.
The airport charges that include Landing, Parking, Aerobridges, Rentals, Embarkation Tax have totalled Rs. 224,256,565 as at November 30, 2014, which is an average of Rs.12.5 million monthly, Chairman Col. Prasanna Wickremasuriya said.
Due to availability of an airport in Mattala, which can be used for an emergency many airlines are now flying over Sri Lanka for which they have to pay a fee.
Amidst these growths, Sri Lanka enjoys the fifth rank in the Asia Pacific Region in respect of effective safety implementation as determined by the ICAO’s Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP).
On completion of the BIA development project, its capacity will increase to 15 million passenger movements per annum. MRIA too is to be developed to handle 6 million passenger movements per annum. Vision 2020 encompasses the increase of the national carrier fleet to 26 aircraft thus gearing the country to attract 4.5 million tourists annually by year 2020.
MRIA offers lucrative investment opportunities that are directly linked to aviation as well as those catalyzed by it. A few examples are domestic aviation, MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) services for airlines, freight forwarding, tourism, hospitality, flying schools, industrial parks, adventure and recreation.
www.dailynews.lk
Shirajiv Sirimane (shirajivs@gmail.com)
The Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) handled 7.3 million passenger movements in 2013,22% in excess of its designed capacity, exhibiting a remarkable growth of 72% over a period of 5 years.
Of these, approximately 19% are transit movements, which indicates a growing potential for achieving passenger hub status. Cargo operations have also flourished with a throughput of 192,550 metric tonnes in 2013. In order to cope with the capacity problem the phase II stage 2 of BIA development project was launched in September 2014.
Sri Lanka’s aviation industry has snowballed into being a key player in the national economy now providing rapid international access via two international airports serving the two national carriers, SriLankan and Mihin and 23 other carriers connecting 60 destinations worldwide.
The commissioning of the Mattala – Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) at Hambantota in March 2013 in addition to enhancing the total national passenger and cargo handling capacity, has had a positive ripple effect of increasing the over flying air traffic within Sri Lanka’s assigned airspace by 100% with many operators opting to make their long-haul flights through it, given the enhanced emergency diversion capacity at Mattala. These include the ultra-high capacity modern aircraft like the Airbus 380.
The airport charges that include Landing, Parking, Aerobridges, Rentals, Embarkation Tax have totalled Rs. 224,256,565 as at November 30, 2014, which is an average of Rs.12.5 million monthly, Chairman Col. Prasanna Wickremasuriya said.
Due to availability of an airport in Mattala, which can be used for an emergency many airlines are now flying over Sri Lanka for which they have to pay a fee.
Amidst these growths, Sri Lanka enjoys the fifth rank in the Asia Pacific Region in respect of effective safety implementation as determined by the ICAO’s Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP).
On completion of the BIA development project, its capacity will increase to 15 million passenger movements per annum. MRIA too is to be developed to handle 6 million passenger movements per annum. Vision 2020 encompasses the increase of the national carrier fleet to 26 aircraft thus gearing the country to attract 4.5 million tourists annually by year 2020.
MRIA offers lucrative investment opportunities that are directly linked to aviation as well as those catalyzed by it. A few examples are domestic aviation, MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) services for airlines, freight forwarding, tourism, hospitality, flying schools, industrial parks, adventure and recreation.
www.dailynews.lk
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