A civil aviation authority expert recently raised some critical points on the state of the runway at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) in addition to questioning the need and the viability of a second international airport.

At a Chamber of Construction Industries (CCI) seminar last week, Dayanthe Athulathmudali, the Director, Safety and Security of Dubai World Central said small states like Sri Lanka should realize that an airline operating regular long haul international flights only wish to operate to one international airport and not to a second within the same state, even if such an airport is made available.

He also said the runway at the BIA which is now over 22 years old will need major refurbishment within the next few years and that aircrafts needing to take off on long range search missions with maximum fuel are heavy on takeoff and need a long runway that is not found anywhere in Sri Lanka. The current runway is only 3,350 meters long and 45 meters wide.

Problems with the current runway
Mr. Athulathmudali, a former Director of Civil Aviation in Sri Lanka’s Aviation Department in the mid-1980s, said it is the only runway in the entire country that can support civil aviation operations by international airlines and military fast-jet operations. However, there are safety concerns when using a single runway for both Civil & Military (SLAF) operations.

There is also harm to Sri Lanka's export via SriLankan Airlines daytime flight to London. The runway is too short to support the A341-300 takeoff at its maximum takeoff weight of 275 tonnes during the daytime when temperatures exceed 31 degrees Celsius. As a result, Mr. Athulathmudali said airline cargo has to be unloaded when the cabin is full with passengers. "Sri Lankan exports destined to London and beyond have to be shamefully unloaded and reloaded to UL's competitors simply because the runway is too short at daytime." The length is inadequate even for other types of aircrafts such as the B777 and B747-400 operations at the maximum takeoff weight, again when the runway is hot.

Mr. Athulathmudali further stated that both the runway length and width are inadequate for an A380 take off. "While it could land at BIA, it can not takeoff thereafter without risking harming itself as jet blast could cause 'serious soil erosion' and destroy runway signs and runway lights," he said. The BIA should ideally have a ICAO standard 60 metre wide runway.

Potential for BIA to be a `Hub'
Opportunities to promote and expand the use of Colombo's BIA do exist, according to Mr. Athulathmudali. If there is a will, BIA can become a hug for cargo and/or passengers serving South Asia including non-stop service to the US. However, he said this will require skill and determination to develop a niche market ahead of potential competitors and that existing problems with inadequate land, which currently dictates a single runway must be resolved.

Second International Airport
Mr. Athulathmudali said politicians have suggested many locations for a second international airport with scant regard to what the airlines would want on ground. Some locations that have been suggested are the Ratmalana Airport, Trincomalee, Hingurakgoda Airport, Hambantota, Wellawaya, Matugama, Weerawila (not at the present airport) and Mathala. He added that politicians during the past three decades have suggested locations and have taken a fancy to disregarding the fact that no airline has asked for an alternate within Sri Lanka.

"What they have suggested and continue to do so is not merely an alternate but a fully operational second international airport," he said, adding that runways require large extents of level land and that costs will be in billions. "Once a runway is buil, cost recovery will be impossible without airlines wanting it nor the terminal building and other expensive infrastructure which requires international. approval and manning by the Airport Services Provider. This initiates recurrent expenditure irrespective of whether the airlines use the second international airport or continues with only BIA."

Need for a second runway
Mr. Athulathmudali said a second runway is the only way for uninterrupted operations at BIA. Any attempt to either extend or widen the only runway would require the closure of the airport and cause severe disruption to all airlines and to passenger connections. The greatest harm would be to SriLankan Airlines which will not be able to provide reasonable connectivity to their passengers at BIA, he warned.

Even if only sections of the runway is closed and that too for few hours at a time, reopening after a closure at night creates a high risk situation to aircrafts from debris that may remain undetected on the runway after each period of construction. The crash of the last Concorde in Paris was due to a small piece of metal remaining on the runway.

He also said that even after harmful disruption to all civil aircrafts and a longer and wider runway is achieved, BIA and Sri Lanka will still be considered a single runway airport and State. He questioned if this is a net gain for Sri Lanka's aviation and if it acceptable for the SLAF to be denied the use of the only runway and total disruption to their aircraft operations during such closures?

Mr. Athulathmudali said it was suggested to the Ministry responsible for Civil Aviation in 2003/04 as to what airlines would require as basic needs for BIA. The suggested new runway would be 2500 metres north from the present runway and linked to a parallel taxiway which is linked to the existing runway. This would permit the simultaneous use of the runways independently as done at new international airports.
Wake up Sri Lanka, he said. "Your BIA is lagging behind by not being ready with the basic requirement of a runway. As notified over five years ago, South India is beating you to emerge with a South Asian hub. A second international airport does not make a hub of either."