Moves to double air passenger volume

Dharma SRI ABEYRATNE

Moves are under way to double the present annual air passenger volume to 12 million by 2015, Civil Aviation Minister Priyankara Jayaratne told the Daily News.

“Around 6.2 million passengers enter or leave the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) per year. With the commissioning of the second international airport in Hambantota in the first quarter of the next year, this number is expected to rise significantly.

At the initial stage, Hambantota International Airport (HIA) will handle one millions passengers annually,” the Minister said. Apart from the increase in the passenger volume, additional measures are being taken to make Sri Lanka as the aviation Hub of Asia. More airlines will reach the country in future while SriLankan and Mihinlanka will fly to a few more destination Minister Jayaratne added. Accordingly, Korean Airways will start operating to the BIA from December 23. Besides that, British Airways will continue its flights to both BIA and HIA from next March. Meanwhile several airlines, which operate to BIA are keen to commence its operations to HIA.

Meanwhile, the Srilankan airlines will fly to South Korea for the first time from December this year. This is the 63 destination of the airlines. At the initial stage the airline will operate three journeys to South Korea per week.

British Airways have been conducting flight journeys to the BIA, but it was stopped due to LTTE terrorism. Finally, with the dawn of peace, British Airways decided to recommence their flight journeys to the country, Minister Jayaratne said. “The International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAA) has also confirmed that Sri Lanka is a safe country for aviation. According to the survey conducted by the ICAA, Sri Lanka is the safest location for civil aviation among the countries in the Indian Ocean, while it is at fourth place in the Asian region,” the Minister said.