Govt. mulls JVs for Mattala/Ratmalana airports
The Government is seriously considering the possibility of forming joint ventures for Mattala and Ratmalana international airports separately due to heavy losses in revenue, dwindling traffic and a passenger slump in the present social unrest and economic crises.
Both these airports are not generating income even to meet the operating expenses including the payment of salaries of its staff, transport costs and maintenance expenditure, a senior official of the Ports and Aviation Ministry said.
The new administration is looking at the option of resurrecting the two airports by entering into joint venture partnerships with foreign operators because the profits as well as the losses will be shared by the parties at an agreed ratio.
“Sometime back the Airport Authority of India submitted a business plan to operate the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport by entering into a 70-30 joint venture agreement,” he disclosed, adding that it didn’t work out due to pre-conditions put forward by the Sri Lanka side.
Mattala airport has become the least-used airport in the world, earning a meagre revenue of around Rs.474 million in the past eight years since opening in 2013, a recent report prepared by the Treasury revealed.
Its expenditure was a whopping Rs 14.4 billion while the income generation of the Bandaranaike International Airport is being used to maintain Mattala.
Sri Lanka’s oldest international airport, the Ratmalana airport upgraded as Colombo International Airport- Ratmalana was reopened on March 27 after nearly five decades. A flight by the Maldives national carrier landed here, the first international flight in 54 years. But the Maldivian airline then stopped flights thereafter. It has been revealed that some of the top officials had suggested this route without even assessing whether it is marketable or not.
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