There are also travel counters in the lobby where transport can be arranged upon arrival. The journey time into Hambantota is up to 30 minutes, and fares vary, but expect to pay around LKR3, — it is advisable to agree the rate with the driver upfront before getting into a taxi. There are two banks located in the common lobby area of the airport; both providing currency exchange facilities.
Limited shopping facilities, including retailers selling duty-free goods and local souvenirs, can be found in Departures. A bond baggage facility is also available at the airport. Baby care facilities are available at various toilets within the terminal. A great hall, naturally brightened by massive windows, led me to a giant statue of Guan Yin, the bodhisattva of compassion, which sits right at the heart of the terminal.
As I walked, my footsteps echoed through the building. There were few other sounds — no flight announcements over the PA, no passengers yakking on their cellphones, no taxi drivers trying to solicit a fare. The high-ceilinged corridors were absent of any visitors, except for myself.
Other than that, everything looked as an airport should: the information booth was fully staffed with three sharply dressed young women, security guards were at their posts, cleaners were scrubbing the floor, the souvenir shops glistened, and a small cafeteria had a cook and a cashier dutifully at work.
This airport was fully in service, despite the lack of a viable reason for it to be. The story as to how this airport rose and fell is a dive into a quagmire of national politics, geopolitical maneuvering, raw corruption, and the hunger of China to invest in massive infrastructure projects along what has subsequently been dubbed the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.
It was long understood that Sri Lanka needed a second international airport. However, the master plan was much broader than just this airport alone. It would become a place built on international trade and commerce, that would be full of joint ventures, FDI, and everything a modern city could desire.
The outside of Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport. This city of the future would be constructed, brick by brick, up from scratch. The reasons why Sri Lanka chose such an unlikely place for this new urban conurbation, rather than further developing an already established city, was the simple fact this was the home region of then-president Mahinda Rajapaksa.
To have an international airport you need to have a resident population, you need to have attractions to make foreigners want to come there, and you need some commercial infrastructure. They just don't have it in Hambantota. This was a president who for nearly a decade virtually ruled as a dictator, appointing his family members and friends to positions of power and keeping the country in a very firm grasp.
In terms of funding this series of massive projects, Sri Lanka had to look beyond its borders. Covering an area of ha, phase one began in and included the construction of basic airport facilities, a runway, an apron, passenger and cargo terminals, taxi way, access roads and other facilities. The construction of phase one was completed in and the airport was officially opened in March by the president.
The expansion includes upgraded hangar, airport terminal and facilities, as well as the construction of new parallel taxiway, a new cargo apron parking stand, taxiway and hangar. Phase two is expected to be completed by It has 12 check-in counters ten international and two domestic with inline baggage screening, ten emigration and ten immigration desks, two contact gates and two passenger boarding bridges. The completion of phase two will add 26 international check-in counters, eight domestic check-ins, 14 contact gates and 28 passenger boarding gates to the terminal.
The HIA has a 3,m-long runway that can handle A flights. Alpha is m-long and 60m-wide while Bravo is The airport is provided with two open-air parking lots, while car parking in the terminal has spaces.
A remote parking area situated at a distance of m from the terminal offers parking at cheaper prices. The design theme is aimed at creating an eco-friendly airport. In Sri Lanka the same appears to be happening, with the Indian Airports Authority reported to have been frozen out of a joint venture with the Sri Lankan government to develop the new Mattala airport.
There is an intriguing tale behind the development of this airport, where, it is now reported, the government has suspended plans to establish a JV with AAI for its operation under a year concession contract. AAI was expected to tackle issues that included how many flights it would bring in, and which Indian airlines in particular would service the airport — even though it has no control over those. Intriguingly, it once appeared, when this procedure began, that the Sri Lankan government was seeking to do a deal with the Indian government directly rather than with AAI, which is an agency operating under the auspices of the Indian Ministry of Aviation.
Later, the Sri Lankan airport was planning to form a joint venture with a private Indian company to operate the airport. All eventualities were on the table if reports are to be believed. And Mattala Rajapaksa Airport needs those visitors.
It was conceived as a second international airport for the country but is situated on the south coast, km from Colombo. One of the reasons for the site selection appears to be that of the reconstruction of a town Hambantota and wider region that was destroyed in the Indian Ocean tsunami.
0コメント