Sri Lanka’s northern Palaly airport to operate regional flights to four Indian destinations
Sri Lanka’s aviation authorities have decided to operate flights to four Indian destinations first once the Palaly Airport in the country’s Northern Province, which is currently being developed as an international airport, is completed.
Palaly Airport will then become Sri Lanka’s third international airport after Colombo and Mattala and regional flights are to commence operations from October 2019.
Accordingly, direct flights are to be initially operated to four Indian destinations – Bangalore, Cochin, Mumbai and Hyderabad.
“These would be for less than 75 seater aircraft,” Sri Lanka’s Minister of Transport and Aviation, Arjuna Ranatuga has said at a special ceremony held to mark the development of the Palaly Airport last week.
The Minister has reportedly stated that the total investment would be Rs. 2.25 billion out of which the Indian government will grant Rs, 300 million for the project.
According to reports, the present 950 meter runway is to be re-laid under the first phase of the development plan and is to be extended to 1.5 km allowing larger aircrafts to land at the airport.
The Minister has further noted that people now flying to Chennai and Bangalore from the Katunayake International Airport spend one hour flying time but waste almost six hours to get to Colombo and the opening up of the Palaly Airport to Indian traffic will firstly cut off these six hours and will bring unprecedented benefits to the people of the Northern Province as it will boost tourism and create business as well as job opportunities.
According to the state owned English daily, Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had earlier said that as part of its development plan in the North, the airport runway will be expanded to handle larger passenger aircraft such as airbus A320 from countries like China, Australia, India, Japan, Middle East and several European countries.
OSL take:
The development of Sri Lanka’s northern Palaly Airport as the country’s third international airport and to first target four destinations in neighbouring India would further boost Sri Lanka’s economy, especially in the tourism, trade, investment and exports sectors. Sri Lanka’s geographical positioning in the Indian Ocean, its close proximity to India and the many trade agreements as well as trade concessions enjoyed by Sri Lanka makes the island an ideal business destination in the South Asian region. Once the development of the airport is completed, it would also increase economic activities in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province. It would undoubtedly result in a boost in the country’s tourism sector. Also, given the free trade agreement (FTA) Sri Lanka has with India, regional flights operated to India would help Sri Lanka reap more benefits from the FTA. Therefore, foreign businesses/investors could explore business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka’s tourism, manufacturing and exports sectors in Sri Lanka, especially in the Northern Province. Meanwhile, foreign businesses looking at doing business with India could also explore the possibility of setting up base in Sri Lanka to utilize its preferential agreements with India.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/09072019/Z_3 |