Mattala preparing for more flights
Sri Lanka is gearing up to open the Mattala airport for international passenger services and cargo traffic with discussions underway with a number of airlines.
The plan is to have scheduled airline flights once the airport is open for commercial traffic and in this regard it will be aiming for five scheduled airlines at the start, Airport and Aviation Services Ltd Director Operations Shehan Sumanasekara told the Business Times.
In this respect he said they have had “serious level discussions with Indigo, Air India, Fly Dubai and Myanmar Airlines”.
In addition the authorities are also in touch with Emirates in a bid to ensure they could attract the airline’s A380 flights to touchdown at Mattala.
He pointed out similarly there were a number of other airlines also lining up while others are being engaged in discussions for future scheduled operations.
However, the key issue remains that there is no scheduled date for the reopening of the airports for regular traffic.
Mr. Sumanasekara noted that the airport had been shut for five years and inspite of this the services of the airport is being put to good use with some repatriation flights also landing at Mattala.
Recently an Emirates 777 flight had brought down about 405 passengers from Dubai to Mattala as part of repatriation services and had carried 28 MT of cargo, he explained. “This is a synopsis of how operational Mattala is,” he said.
In terms of required infrastructure regarding transportation and accommodation in and around Mattala, Mr. Sumanasekara pointed out that there are enough rooms from three and four star hotels within one hour’s distance from the airport.
Moreover, authorities have already worked out a plan to provide shuttle bus services from the Mattala airport including taxi operations.
“We are concentrating on the cargo factor,” he said adding that in this respect they hope to provide for 50,000 MT of cargo for which they are looking at attracting investments from private importers and investors.
Concessions are being offered for entreport trade by providing land within the airport for manufacturing plants to carry out value added services on products for export or even domestic sale, Mr. Sumanasekara said.
He noted that they have approximately 70 ha of property within the airport for this purpose and another 1000 ha outside the airport.
Plans in this respect, are scheduled to be rolled out next month, he said.
SriLankan Airlines is also in discussion with authorities to carry out some of their operations at the Mattala airport once it opens.