Inside Sri Lanka’s empty ghost airport
In 2013 Sri Lanka opened the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport which cost $270 million to build. It’s the country’s second largest airport after Colombo, however it also happens to be the emptiest one in the world.
It’s got everything a regular international airport has; shops, check-in counters, a business lounge, cafés, beautiful architecture, even a runway that can cater for an A380.
The only thing missing? Passengers.
Built by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa – thus the name – the million-dollar structure was supposed to bring in hordes of tourist to rural Sri Lanka, but hasn’t been successful. Instead, it was slammed by critics calling it a vanity project.
On a good day, only 70 people will pass through the airport, compared to the average daily 250,000 travellers that go through a standard international terminal.
“Per day we can say [there are] about 50 to 75 passengers departing from this airport,” airport manager Upul Kalansuriya told the BBC in a recent report.
Sadly, only one airline operates out of Rajapaksa, Mr Kalansuriya adds, “FlyDubai is our scheduled flight operator from this airport. It flies from Colombo to Mattala to Dubai. At the moment that’s the only airline.”
So why is the airport not operating as expected? Part of the problem is the location. Unlike Colombo which sits in the heart of Sri Lanka, Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport is nowhere near tourist attractions or urban hubs, but instead sits in the small town of Hambantota which has a population of 23,000 people.
Needless to say, the future of the airport remains unclear.
