Redeveloped Colombo airport opens today

The JBIC supported Bandaranaike International Airport(BIA) costing a investment of Rs.12 Billion will give a traveler an impression of a country which is modern, progressive and poised to be the 'Business hub' in South Asia, says Rohantha Athukorala the Director of the National Council for Economic Development (NCED). Redeveloped BIA opens today.

The project is managed by Airport Aviation Services Limited with a 90% funding by the Japanese Government.

The largest and the most visible from the 12 Billion investment will be the passenger Boarding Bridges which will be seen for the 1st time in Sri Lanka, says the Project Director Rafeek of Airport and Aviation Services Limited.

The new enhanced passenger facilities take passengers through a modern, streamlined immigration area into a transit and duty free lounge with a wide selection of shops and restaurants that gives a travelers the opportunity of savoring a typical Sri Lankan shopping experience whilst enjoying the Sri Lankan culture and identity.

It is expected that the transit passengers will increase from the current 48,299 to 100,000 by the year 2009. Whilst the increased terminal space can handle 6 million passengers per annum from the current 3.4 Million.

This is in line with the aggressive marketing that the tourism promotion bureau is doing in the focused markets of Europe and Asia.

It will also help make the first impression of an international traveler, strong and positive just like the impressions we have, when we visit a country like Singapore, said Athukorala.

Immigration counters have been increased from 8 to 16 to ensure there is no congestion. Expansion has also been done at shopping areas, the duty free and transit lounges so that the new BIA airport revolved around one aerobridge would be connected to eight fixed bridges which will means 8 planes can be simultaneously serviced which includes two airbus A 380 aircrafts.

To promote BIA as a cargo transshipment hub cargo handling capacity will also increase from the current 150,000 MT to 250,000 MT by the end of 2009. It is also expected that the Cargo transshipment from the current 12656 tons to 25,000 tons by end 2009.

The next phase of the project is the construction of a seven storeyed car park linked to the arrival/departure terminals as in the case of developmental airports like Heathrow. This will also mean that passengers would be able to park their vehicles at the airport on their return. This project is scheduled to close by May 2006.