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Hambantota | Mattala International Airport | Completed

69K views 183 replies 43 participants last post by  VisionJ 
#1 ·
The Mattala International Airport is an international airport currently under construction in Mattala, in the Hambantota District in the south of Sri Lanka. Upon completion, the Mattala International Airport will be Sri Lanka's second international airport, joining the Bandaranaike International Airport. It will primarily serve the city of Hambantota, along with the southern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka.

Initial plans to build an international airport serving the south of Sri Lanka at Weerawila, but these plans were scrapped due to environmental concerns. The site was then moved to Mattala, a small town 15 kilometers north of Hambantota. Construction on the $200 million first phase of the airport began in November 2009, and is expected to be completed by December 2011, with the first flight scheduled to land in January 2012.



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#117 ·
Mattala gets priority over BIA

The Government will adopt an open skies policy allowing international carriers to operate freely at the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport, Aviation Minister Priyankara Jayaratne said yesterday.

Open skies policy is a concept where free market conditions are created for commercial aviation. It provides access to international carriers to operate freely without restrictions.

“This is a move to attract more international traffic and the new policy will be announced next week,” he said. The minister said the policy would not apply to the Bandaranaike International Airport at Katunayake.

The minister said the open skies policy would create a free market environment for the airline industry. Earlier, the Government had planned to have an open skies policy only for a limited period but now it had decided to extend it for an unlimited period.

He said that among other concessions at Mattala would be a 50 per cent discount on ground handling charges for five years.

He said talks were held with various international airlines including Emirates, Qatar Airways, Ettihad, Air Arabia, Sichuan Airlines of China and the Korean Airlines and they had agreed to fly to Mattala. Talks with other airlines were continuing.

Mr. Jayaratne said a 10-acre land has been allocated to Air Arabia for the construction of a 400 room hotel while a local company had also been allocated land for a hotel project.

The first phase of the new 800-acre airport constructed by China Harbour Engineering Company cost US$ 209 million (Rs 26.7 billion).

Meanwhilem Civil Aviation Director General H.M.C. Nimalasiri has gazetted the official commissioning of Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport for domestic and international air transport services.

Source
 
#122 ·
They are trying to make HTT (oops i mean HRIA hikz) out beat CMB through a "clever trick". As they can't force foreign airlines to use HTT they are trying to entice them to do so by offering free refuelling and ground handling. The "thinking" here is that because it's so cheap for them to use HTT compared to CMB (as everything will be given free), all the foreign airlines will ditch CMB and go to HTT. Diverting all passengers and air traffic to HTT. Then they will proclaim it a "success" story, like Mihin making profit (lol).

This is the stupidest plan imaginable. Where does the money come from for the free fuel and ground handling that will be given? Well the state coffers of course.

I don't oppose a second international airport, even the location (not that great but ok i suppose) however by trying to artificially make HTT SL's primary airport by using "tricks" in the hopes of making airlines use it is just ridiculous. I thought these people would be smart and let HTT grow “organically”. Then again intelligence and foresight + this government don’t go together.
 
#123 · (Edited)
Choices
9 Feb, 2013 08:32:59
By Rohan Samarajiva

Sri Lanka’s success as a hub: Location is not enough

Feb 19, 2013 (LBO) - I’ve been seeing the insides of too many airports, one reason for the long gap since the last Choices column. Made me reflect on what makes some airports hubs and others not.
A hub airport is one that has a high proportion of transit passengers (and/or freight). The last time one of my students did an in-depth study, around 20 percent of passengers going through BIA were in transit. Just before it was renationalized, SriLankan claimed that as many as 46 percent of its passengers transited through Colombo, though that percentage appears too high for now.
Sri Lanka used to be a major hub in the 1960s, as evidenced by the story of Lee Kuan Yew transiting to London through Colombo. Then we lost that status and started going to Singapore to get long-haul flights. What this shows is that location is not enough, by itself.

Competition among hubs

One of the world’s largest hub airports, Heathrow, sees itself in competition not only with the other major hub airports in Europe (Amsterdam Schiphol, Frankfurt, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Madrid), but also with emerging hubs in Istanbul and Dubai. This is a correct perception, since it’s now common for Asian and African passengers to bypass Europe altogether and fly to North and South America directly from Gulf airports such as Doha and Dubai.

Colombo has little chance of competing with the region’s mega hubs, such as Bangkok, Dubai and Singapore. But it can easily achieve greater success as a regional hub, connecting South Asian passengers to South Eastern and Western Asia.

Colombo is not at the geographical center of South Asia (New Delhi is), but it is advantageously positioned in relation to the dynamic South Indian states, the Maldives and even populous Indonesia.

For a while it appeared that New Delhi’s new Terminal 3, operated as a public-private partnership and home to a dynamic airline (Jet Airways), would pose a serious threat to Colombo, but it appears that the quality of the transit experience there is deteriorating. The massive numbers of passengers generated within the catchment area of the New Delhi airport appears to have caused the Indian airport authorities to fumble the ball.

Countries like Singapore and Sri Lanka that do not have the luxury of a massive domestic catchment area cannot afford to; they arecompelled to pay greater attention to transit passengers in order to fill their flights and make best use of their airports.

What a hub needs to succeed

The most important ingredient of success as a hub airport is good connections (to places that passengers want to go to; without too long a wait). The precondition for good connections is lots of flights. How one attracts a lot of flights is by running an efficient airport that can provide excellent ground services (e.g., fueling, catering, baggage services) at competitive prices.

BIA is not the most efficient airport in the region. SriLankan, the home airline, has long enjoyed monopolies in ground services. These monopolies become even more important when the airline is hemorrhaging red ink, as it is now. But they have to be eliminated BIA is to become a successful regional hub.

No one was complaining about Singapore Changi’s efficiency. Yet, they have introduced significant competition in ground services by allowing in DNATA, the Dubai-based airport services operator. Sri Lanka should follow, at least in terms of concessioning out the supply of ground services through well-defined contracts that create incentives for efficient service supply and low prices.

BIA now offers better services to transit passengers, such a transit hotel and more choice in retail, food and drink. These amenities factor in only after the transit passengers have arrived. No one buys an airline ticket on the basis of the shopping in the transit airport. Many successful airports maintain significant margins on the amenities provided to the captive passengers but keep the ground services as low as possible. Making it attractive for airlines to land an aircraft and takeoff again is the foundation of success of a hub.

Mattala’s effects

The question that will naturally arise is the impact of Mattala. A hub is about people coming on one flight and conveniently getting on another. There is not much value in coming to Colombo and departing from Mattala, or vice versa. For example, having all the flights to and from South East Asia coming to Mattala while Colombo serves South Asia and western destinations does not make a lot of sense since that will not make either airport an attractive hub and will actually harm the potential of each.

Another danger is that the airport authorities will try to cross-subsidize Mattala, by offering below-cost ground services there and jacking up the prices in Colombo even further. Another is the mandating of the use of Mattala, irrespective of commercial considerations. This was the case in Ireland a few decades back.

Ireland had built a big airport at one of its westernmost points, Shannon, to serve the aircraft of the time that needed to refuel as quickly as possible after crossing the Atlantic. Then aircraft technology improved as Shannon was no longer needed. But the government mandated all aircraft coming to Dublin (where the people and businesses were) to clear customs and immigration in Shannon. I recall going through the contortions of doing two landings in a tiny little country as recently as in the early 1990s.

Given how expensive landings and takeoffs are, we passengers paid for the generosity of the Irish government to the stakeholders of Shannon. I believe this madness did not continue for too long.

In the case of Shannon, irrational behavior by the government was driven by the need to appease existing stakeholders. Luckily, there are no existing stakeholders in Mattala. Therefore, one hopes that Shannon will not be repeated here.


Freight hub
But there is a good side to the Shannon story. It was one of the birth places of business process outsourcing. Given the limitations of data storage and communication in the late 1980s and 1990s, it made sense to air freight tape containing data across the Atlantic to be worked upon and returned also by air freight. It also attracted a lot of European beachhead offices of American companies, especially those in IT.

That particular story cannot be directly replicated in Mattala. But its essence can. The authorities need to think of a rational economic application now that the airport has been built. An air freight cargo hub seems to make prima facie sense. In terms of aircraft movements, obscure Memphis, Tennessee, and Louisville, Kentucky, are among the busiest in the world, because they serve as hubs for FedEx and UPS respectively.

While the volumes of air freight carried by these companies as well as others such as DHL and TNT are growing rapidly in South Asia, the region still lacks hubs. The closest are situated in the high-cost locations of Bahrain, Dubai and Singapore. It would be quite a coup for the Aviation Ministry to attract the first such hub in South Asia to Mattala.

http://www.lbo.lk/fullstory.php?nid=1829264474#cm

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Will Gov take on board this advice?! NO
 
#125 ·
COUNTDOWN

Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport
Vision becomes a Reality 2 3 1 0 4 7 5 6
23 days, 10 hours, 47 minutes and 56 seconds
Countdown to Opening
Sri Lanka's Newest International Gateway




http://www.airport.lk/


18th March 2013 signifies the official handing over to the nation of the Sri Lankas’ Second wondrous sky gate





© 2012 Airport & Aviation (Sri Lanka) Limited. All Rights Reserved.
 
#126 ·
Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport
Vision becomes a Reality 2 3 1 0 4 7 5 6
23 days, 10 hours, 47 minutes and 56 seconds
Countdown to Opening
Sri Lanka's Newest International Gateway




http://www.airport.lk/


18th March 2013 signifies the official handing over to the nation of the Sri Lankas’ Second wondrous sky gate





© 2012 Airport & Aviation (Sri Lanka) Limited. All Rights Reserved.
:cheers::cheers::):):) :banana::banana::banana:
 
#127 ·
Access Engineering hands over completed projects at Mattala International Airport

Access Engineering PLC, the leading infrastructure development solutions provider in Sri Lanka, played an important role in infrastructure development work carried out at the Mattala International Airport, which was entrusted by the main contractor, China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd.

The successful completion and timely delivery of this national project was performed by utilising state-of-the-art technology and equipment in compliance to the most stringent quality and safety standards.


Access road to the Mattala International Airport

Cargo building

Funded by the Government of the People’s Republic of China, the construction of the Hambantota International Airport in Mattala is one of the country’s most exhilarating infrastructure projects which began in 2009 and when fully operational, will be Sri Lanka’s second international airport after the Bandaranaike International Airport. The new airport is expected to be a catalyst for the country’s economic development by enabling international trade, tourism, employment, etc.

Access Engineering was entrusted with the construction of the cargo and fire rescue buildings, design and construction of the airport access road, supply and laying of external and internal water supply mains, construction of a water tower and the construction of an aviation fuel hydrant system under the major infrastructure development of the Hambantota International Airport. The combined value of these projects amounts to over Rs. 2 billion.

Along with the main contractor China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd., Access Engineering was given the responsibility of designing and constructing the access road to the Hambantota International Airport by Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) Ltd. The 2.5 km, four-lane road consists of a two m wide central median, 3.2 m wide carriageways and 1.1m wide walkways on either side. The road followed a completely new trace which stretches through marshy areas that frequently remain flooded during rainy seasons. The designers from Access Engineering took up the challenge to provide a robust and economical solution to overcome this issue.

Access Engineering implemented many value engineering solutions to reduce costs and improve the quality of the cargo and fire rescue buildings which were completed on time complying with the highest quality standards of a modern day airport.

“Expertise of our support services was utilised extensively and we even forayed into mechanical installation work such as the long span roofing structure, in-house. We acquired and developed the expertise and specialised knowledge that is required to excel in this fiercely competitive sector of building construction by gearing up to meet the challenges and the changes in the economic climate that would open up many opportunities in the future,” said Nihal Jayathilaka, Senior Project Manager of Access Engineering.

The most noteworthy challenge Access Engineering took on is the construction of the aviation fuel hydrant system. After re-evaluating predictions of air traffic and quality of services, Airport and Aviation Services Ltd. (Sri Lanka), along with the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, was compelled to introduce an aviation fuel hydrant system in the apron area of the airport.

Fire and rescue building( how many air-cons you need?):nuts:

This development in the halfway stage of the project and many other construction works were in critical and crucial stages. This new introduction became a dilemma for Airport Aviation Services since it would cause huge delays to the completion of the apron area of the airport and its timely completion was also under threat.

However, Access Engineering together with China Harbour Engineering provided innovative solutions to overcome these obstacles by constructing the aviation fuel hydrant system without affecting the completion date. The Mattala fuel hydrant project was unique as it used sophisticated and modern technology while strict quality standards and control measures were implemented throughout.

As a major player in infrastructure development across Sri Lanka, Access Engineering takes pride to be associated with some of the most significant projects in the country, which yet again proves that the company continues to be the partner of choice in value engineering.

FT
 
#135 ·
Sri Lanka Mattala airport interests A380 operators: official

Mar 14, 2013 (LBO) - Sri Lanka's second international airport in Mattala is attracting interest from Airbus A380 operators, and the airport agency stands to earn more navigation fees from overflying aircraft, a top official said.

"A lot of airlines are interested in this runway," chairman of Airport and Aviation Services of Sri Lanka Ltd, Prasanna Wickramasuriya said.
"Airlines flying over from Dubai to Sydney, would prefer to have an air route over Sri Lanka since we have a runway like this."

The Mahinda Rajapaksa International Airport in Mattala has a 3,500 metre runway, 60 metres wide 7.5 metre shoulders which has been designated 'Code F' by the International Civil Aviation Organization.

Mattala airport which is opening next week will commence with flights by Emirates-based Air Arabia and Fly Dubai and state-run SriLankan and Mihin Air.

"Airlines like Emirates, Qatar are also interested because we have A380 capable runway," Wickramasuriya said.

Sri Lanka already earns navigation fees from aircraft overflying its flight information region, but industry analysts have said that the full potential of controlling air traffic in the Indian Ocean is yet to be exploited.
 
#137 ·
Yes, I've heard this before. A space port in Mattala in the future has some valid arguments. To add to the one above, Mattala is one of the few areas not in international territory to have the lowest possible gravitational attraction.
Maybe sometime in the not so distant future, eh? :cheers:
 
#139 ·
Is it really possible, a space station in Sri-Lanka? We already have a space program, and most countries that get a space program eventually build their own stations. Yes, this sounds plausible.

Hope that one day I can drive to Mattala to look at the rockets launching!:lol:
:cheers:
 
#146 ·
From the Sunday Times 07/03/2013

http://www.sundaytimes.lk/130407/ne...sed-to-keep-away-birds-and-animals-40385.html

Water holes around Mattala closed to keep away birds and animals

By Leon Berenger

The Civil Aviation Authority has started to cover up the water holes in and around the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) to prevent birds and other wildlife species from entering the area since they could pose a serious threat to aircraft, a senior official said yesterday.

Civil Aviation Director General H.M.C. Nimalsiri said they were also removing sources of fodder such as grass, weeds and seeds that could attract the birds and the animals to the area.�In addition, flares and crackers were also being exploded to scare away the birds and the animals shortly before the arrival or departure of an aircraft, he said.

Mr. Nimalsiri claimed that this was a part of the “eco-friendly action plan” that had come into effect since the opening of the MRIA on March 18. “The only way to prevent the birds and animals from interrupting aviation traffic is to deprive them of their water and fodder. The birds descend on the water holes in search of fish and their presence goes on to attract wild animals in search of food,” the Aviation Chief explained.

He also ruled out any plans to shoot down the birds since it was not environmentally friendly and not the right thing to do.The MRIA is situated in the heart of a large bird sanctuary that attracts thousands of migrant birds each year, and environmentalists have expressed serious concern for their future wellbeing as they could get entangled with flying aircraft.

Since the airport came into operation, there have been two reported cases of mid-air collisions between aircraft and large flocks of birds.
 
#147 ·
From the Sunday Times 07/03/2013

http://www.sundaytimes.lk/130407/ne...sed-to-keep-away-birds-and-animals-40385.html

Water holes around Mattala closed to keep away birds and animals

By Leon Berenger

The Civil Aviation Authority has started to cover up the water holes in and around the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) to prevent birds and other wildlife species from entering the area since they could pose a serious threat to aircraft, a senior official said yesterday.

Civil Aviation Director General H.M.C. Nimalsiri said they were also removing sources of fodder such as grass, weeds and seeds that could attract the birds and the animals to the area.�In addition, flares and crackers were also being exploded to scare away the birds and the animals shortly before the arrival or departure of an aircraft, he said.

Mr. Nimalsiri claimed that this was a part of the “eco-friendly action plan” that had come into effect since the opening of the MRIA on March 18. “The only way to prevent the birds and animals from interrupting aviation traffic is to deprive them of their water and fodder. The birds descend on the water holes in search of fish and their presence goes on to attract wild animals in search of food,” the Aviation Chief explained.

He also ruled out any plans to shoot down the birds since it was not environmentally friendly and not the right thing to do.The MRIA is situated in the heart of a large bird sanctuary that attracts thousands of migrant birds each year, and environmentalists have expressed serious concern for their future wellbeing as they could get entangled with flying aircraft.

Since the airport came into operation, there have been two reported cases of mid-air collisions between aircraft and large flocks of birds.
So someone's job was to shoot firecrackers all day ? :p
 
#155 ·
100km/h speed limit is for SAFETY reasons as well.

You think vehicles should travel as fast as they can on a motorway? Other than the wear and tear such excessive speeds would do to the vehicle itself, the number of accidents on E01 would grow exponentially and of course you'd be the first person to start complaining.
 
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