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Mattala and Katunayake to cater to different markets

14 Feb 2022

 
  • Mattala airport for Central Asia; BIA for Europe and West
  • Hungarian budget carrier Wizz Air to commence scheduled flight from 1 Mar. to Mattala
  • Discussions underway to set up MRO facility
  BY Shenal Fernando The Government will be focusing on the development of the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) in Hambantota into a fully active airport, catering largely to the Central Asian region. Speaking to The Morning Business, Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) Ltd. (AASL) Chairman Maj. Gen. (Retd.) G.A. Chandrasiri stated: “We are looking to get tourists from the Central Asian region to use the MRIA. Most of the airlines coming to the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) are from European and South Asian countries. We have never tapped the Central Asian region.” He further stated that currently, a majority of flights arriving in the MRIA are from Central Asia. According to him, the MRIA is a more attractive choice to tourists from the Central Asian region due to most of the countries in the region being landlocked and not having access to any beaches. Hence, the MRIA’s close proximity to Down South provides Central Asian tourists easy access to the southern coastal belt. Therefore, he claimed that many Central Asian tourists arrive at the MRIA and stay at hotels in the southern coast for around 14 days before leaving.    Explaining further, Chandrasiri stated that the gradual development of the MRIA is reflected in the number of international airlines operating charter flights to the MRIA, which has increased to four over the past six months. According to him, these airlines are from the Central Asian region, including Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.    He further added: “Wizz Air, which is a ultra-low-cost Central Hungarian carrier, will commence scheduled flights to the MRIA from Abu Dhabi from 1 March 2022. So the Central Asian tourists will come to Abu Dhabi and from there will arrive in Sri Lanka on these low-cost flights.”   Once Wizz Air commences operations, it will be the first international airline to commence scheduled flights to the MRIA. Chandrasiri further claimed that an Australian company had approached last week to establish a maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) facility in the MRIA and the proposal will be submitted to the Board shortly. He expects the MRO facility to be operational by the end of the year if approval is granted. He further stated that many businesses are starting to recognise the potential of the MRIA as reflected by the increase in the number of duty free shops opened in the MRIA in the recent past. According to him, one year ago there wasn’t a single duty free shop in the MRIA and therefore, this development reflects the changing fortunes of the airport. He further pointed out that even Aitken Spence had opened an outlet at the MRIA to offer its services to the arriving tourists, thereby capitalising on the potential of the MRIA.  Speaking to the media last week, Minister of Tourism Prasanna Ranatunga announced that discussions are ongoing, with several international airlines to commence flights to the MRIA. According to the Minister, during 2021, 722 aircrafts arrived at the MRIA, carrying 32,957 passengers. From these arrivals, 584 were international flights while 138 were domestic flights. 


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