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By Chamitha Kuruppu

The Bandaranaike International Airport, the country's only international airport will attract more aircraft and leading airlines with the opening of the new Aviation Refuelling Terminal on May 28.

Minister of Power and Energy Karu Jayasuriya will open the new giant aviation fuel complex on May 28 and operations of the new terminal will follow.

Sri Lanka will join the list of countries providing 'A' grade aviation fuel with the new aviation refuelling terminal at the BIA. Deputy Operations Manager Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (Aviation) Sunil Gamage told the Daily News that the new tank farm has already been completed and construction work of the administration building will be completed soon. " By end May everything should be ready for operations," Gamage said.

The total cost of the project which includes a Fuel Hydrant System, tanks and buildings is around Rs. 800 million and the entire expenditure is borne by Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC).

Airport and Aviation Services Limited (AASL) is handling the project and CPC is supplying aviation fuel. The total capacity of the current tank farm at the BIA is nearly three million litres. Storage capacity of the new tank farm is 7.8 million litres and could be stored for nine days which was only three days earlier. The current tank will be demolished after commencing operations of the new terminal.

" We have provision to double the storage capacity according to future demand," he said.

According to Gamage there are two main types of aviation fuel used at any international airport. Jet A -1,which is used for turbine-engined aircraft. This is a kerosene based fuel mainly used for jet aircraft.

The second type is aviation gasoline 100 LL, which is used for piston-engined aircraft. This is mainly for small aircraft used in training, private use and for agricultural purposes.

These fuel types should be produced according to the latest specification checklists and from the production at the oil refinery to the aircraft fuelling point. there are a number of quality maintenance checks and tests to be carried out to confirm its original quality.

" These are the most quality-concerned type of fuels, and if something is wrong with the quality, it will end up in a terrible disaster," he said. Jet A or the commonly known 'A' grade aviation fuel is available in almost all international and domestic airports in the world. The fuel type is locally available at the BIA, Ratmalana airport and most of the Sri Lanka Airforce airbases.

The annual Jet A-1 demand is nearly 300 million litres, which has an annual growth of eight to nine percent. The figure was reduced in 2001 due to disturbances at the airport, which is now recovering.

" We depend on Sri Lanka Railways to bring our products from Kolonnawa to Katunayake daily. At least two sets of railway bogies should reach the BIA to maintain the current demand," he said.

With the new terminal facilities the current storage capacity will be increased. This is safer and a must to maintain the standards in operation in order to make the service more efficient, effective and environment friendly, he said.

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