Sri Lanka to open Chinese funded airport in March

Sri Lanka will declare open a Chinese funded international airport in March this year, Sri Lankan Civil Aviation Minister said on Thursday.

Civil Aviation Minister Priyankara Jayaratne said that the airport will be declared open for commercial operations on March 18, becoming Sri Lanka's second international airport.

Construction work on the USD 209 million first phase of the airport was to have been completed at the end of last year and commercial operations were to be launched this month.

However, work on the airport was delayed although the first test flight on the new air strip at the airport landed in October last year.

A twin-engine Beechcraft Super king test aircraft belonging to the Pakistan Civil Aviation Department successfully landed on the new runway in a measure to test air travel control instruments installed at the Mattala Airport.

The airport is being built on a 2,000 hectare land according to recommendations of the International Civil Aviation Organization. A 1,000-square meter cargo facility will have the capacity of handling 45,000 metric tons of cargo per year.

The Chinese government provided financial assistance for the project. The airport is being constructed by the China Harbour Engineering Company.

The Civil Aviation Authority said that the new international airport being constructed in the south of the country will help meet demands for more landing space required for international flights.

Several major international airlines, including British Airways, Air France and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, pulled out from the country when the government was engaged in a bitter 30-year-war with Tamil Tiger rebels.

With the war ending four years ago and the tourism industry booming, British Airways had announced that it will resume flights to the country this year.