Aviation hub: Lanka increases capacity but freight, ground services need some liberalisation

January 22, 2012, 12:00 pm 

By Mario Andree

Passenger and cargo handling at the main Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) has exceeded capacity, good signs of the potential for the country to establish itself as an aviation hub, but industrialists are concerned that freight and ground services were not liberal enough.

Airport and Aviation Services Chairman Prasanna Wickramasuriya said that the BIA handled more than 6.4 million passengers, exceeding its capacity while cargo handling also showed an increase.

However, he pointed out that the current scenario was not sufficient to become an aviation hub and said that the country needs to attract more transits passengers and cargo in order to achieve its goals. Passenger transits had increased 50 percent last year compared to 2010, he said speaking at a forum convened by the American Chamber of Commerce.

To facilitate more transits and encourage a high number of tourist arrivals, the Mattala Airport would be completed by the end of this year with 60 percent of the project already completed. The AAS would initially add a million more passengers and 100,000 cargo handling capacity to safeguard the BIA’s interest.

Wickramasuriya pointed out that more expansions were on the way for both BIA and the Mattala Airport. The BIA would able to absorb another 6 million travelers and Mattala 5 million.

In addition to these international airports the AAS has drafted plans for domestic airports. The Ratmalana Airport which was once used for military purposes would be developed as a city airport to cater to the growing number of cooperate jets flying into the country, a 28 percent growth in cooperate jet arrivals was seen last year compared to 2010, he said.

He said by end 2018, the country would have a total passenger handling capacity of 18 million and for the country to become an aviation hub the private sector would be required to establish other services and facilities to support it.

At the forum, several industrialists voiced their concerns that the freight policies were not so conducive for businesses with several issues plaguing the industry.

Industrialists also pointed out that the monopoly status enjoyed by the national carrier Sri Lankan Airlines for ground services such as catering and baggage handling, discouraged competition and made Sri Lanka a relatively expensive destination for airlines as a result.

“In order to become an aviation hub, some of these would have to be liberalised in order to attract investment and more players,” an industrialist said.

Developing the domestic aviation sector also requires the government to create a level playing field, with private operators finding it difficult to compete with the heavy military presence in the sector, industrialists pointed out.