MRIA commences flight schedules from Friday
View(s):By Sunimalee Dias
The Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) commenced its scheduled flight arrivals and departures on Friday morning, four days after it officially opened on March 18.
The new airport had to go through a thorough clean-up prior to commencing operations after the opening day’s ceremony that took place amidst much celebration.
MRIA Airport Manager H.S. Hettiarachchi told the Business Times that a fair number of passengers are checking-in and out from the newly -constructed airport.
Seen here Captain Milinda Ratnayake (right), who piloted the first commercial flight – SriLankan Airlines from Dubai to Colombo via Mattala- , at the airport along with other pilots, stewardess and officials. A group of 40 passengers from the US (via Dubai) got off at Mattala.
He observed that about 20 passengers arrived at Mattala on the Air Arabia flight on Friday, and at least 76 passengers left on the flight back to Sharjah. In a separate statement, Air Arabia said it is operating two weekly flights between Sharjah and Mattala.
The passengers were said to be a mix of both local and foreigners visiting the country for those arriving and departing from the Mattala airport, the airport manager said. Mr. Hettiarachchi noted that “all essential agencies are functioning” at the airport and that from March 22 early morning there were flights scheduled to touch down and take-off from the southern airport.
Commenting on possibilities for passengers to commute to Colombo, he explained that the Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) had commenced a special transport service from Mattala to Colombo and there were three taxi service operators functioning from the new airport.
Flights arriving at the Mattala airport would touch down, stay for a duration of at least 20 minutes before they turnaround unless they require refuelling, he said. Currently, the airport is said to have adequate fuel stock brought in from Colombo as required for those flights landing at the airport, Mr. Hettiarachchi said.
In future, Mr. Hettiarachchi said there would be daily flights operating to and from Mattala depending on the day of the week, and a new flight schedule is expected to be released soon.
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