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Monday, 18 March 2013

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Aviation threshold to Wonder of Asia:

MRIA to usher economic renaissance

The country is set for an economic renaissance with the opening of Sri Lanka’s second international airport, the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) by President Mahinda Rajapaksa today.


Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport

The Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka on Friday gave the green light for the opening of MRIA by issuing the Aeronautical Service Provider Licence and an open sky policy will be adopted by the government allowing international carriers to operate freely over Mattala.

In addition a 50 % discount on ground handling charges for five years too is in the offine.

The first phase of the US$ 220 million project, is capable of accommodating one million passengers annually and with the commissioning of the second phase the capacity is expected to increase to five million per annum by 2015.

Many major airlines such as Qatar Airways, Ethiad , Emirates and budget airlines flydubai and Air Arabia have already scheduled flights to Mattala.

In addition Sichuan Airlines of China, too would operate flights to Mattala and major airlines too have express willingness to enter the fold including Korean Air. In addition Heli Tours would also operate two flights per day at a very low rate between Colombo and Mattala.

MRIA would open to the skies with National Carrier SriLankan Airlines, flying the inaugural flight to MRIA today. Initially SriLankan Airlines will be operating two flights to Riyadh, four to Male, two to Beijing and one to Shanghai via Bangkok, while Mihin Lanka would fly twice to Buddha Gaya.

Among the many unique features of MRIA is its ability to accommodate the Airbus A380, as it has been designated Code F by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

MRIA which consists of a 3,500-metre long and 60-metre wide runway, and 7.5-metre shoulders has already lured Emirates Airlines which has already expressed their willingness to use the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Airport as a supply airport for their modern A380 flights operating on long haul destinations.

Thus MRIA has already drawn the spot light of several mega airlines with its ability to handle even the world’s largest and newest aircraft.

With the large ground space available at MRIA and its ability to handle 60,000 metric tonnes of cargo and with plans to increase it to150,000 metric tones, there are vast opening for converting MRIA into an cargo hub in South Asia thus drawing many major courier providers such as Fedex and DHL into the purview of MRIA. SriLankan Cargo will manage the MRIA’s 5,000-square metre cargo facility.

All line maintenance requirements at MRIA for Airbus A300, A320, A330, A340 and Boeing 737 aircraft, including support for other operators’ aircraft, will be provided by SriLankan Engineering.

SriLankan Catering (SLC), a subsidiary of SriLankan Airlines would handle the Flight Kitchen of MRIA, catering to the food and beverage needs of Transit Restaurant, Business Class Lounge and the Public Restaurant.

SLC restaurants would be staffed by 52 employees recruited from the region, and arrangements have been made to use local produce as much as possible in all catering requirements.

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