The monthly operating loss of the Mattala International Airport comes to around Rs.10 million, Ports, Shipping and Aviation Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said on Saturday.
“But according to international air travel criteria, we need a second international airport for emergency landings, so we need to build alternative revenue streams there while minimizing costs,” he told journalists after engaging in an inspection visit to the Airport on Saturday.
It was revealed during the minister’s visit that 545 employees have been deployed at the airport although hardly any flight arrives there now and some of these employees are given daily transport in a bus from Colombo to Mattala, the Ministry media unit said.
The minister had said that steps should be taken to minimize the loss and maintain it as an airport with a minimum number of employees.The Minister said that the Mattala Airport would never be sold.
He said that if a good investor comes to restructure the airport administration, he intends to enter into a collective agreement and turn Mattala Airport into a profitable airport as a joint venture of the government.
“Today, the Mattala Airport is being maintained with the money earned from Katunayake and the loan of US$ 210 million obtained from China for the construction of this airport is still been repaid”, the Minister said.
He said Airlines have been invited to use the airport as a parking space and aircraft maintenance yard. “However, due to the current social situation in our country, the fuel and dollar crisis, investors and airlines are reluctant to do so and it is not easy to attract them,” he added.
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