ICAO approves airline routes for H’tota airport

by Shirajiv Sirimane

The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has approved several air routes and destinations for airlines to touch down at the Hambantota International Airport (HIA) that is scheduled to be open by 2012 end.

These destinations and routes include, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, China, UK, Germany, Australia, Italy, Singapore, Diego Garcia, Korea, UAE, the Maldives, France and Bangkok.

Chairman, Airport Aviation, Prasanna Wickramasuriya said that they anticipate one million passengers and 45,000 metric tons of cargo per annum under the first stage. There would be 10 parking bays for aircraft.

They also plan to have a rail track to link the HIA with the Magampura Port.

Meanwhile, plans are also under way to upgrade the Ratmalana airport, Sri Lanka’s first airport to a City airport.

Wickramasuriya said that the number of private jet movements has increased by over 27 percent and they are planning to capture a fair share of this market. “We will allow private jets to land and provide them space for ‘parking’,” he said.

The Airport Aviation Services(AASL) is also planning to introduce a customs service and duty free shopping.

The AASL also hopes to construct a new terminal building and a control tower. One of the other major developments would be the expansion of the runway towards the Weras Ganga and building a new apron and taxiway.

He also unveiled plans to extend the Colombo-Katunayake airport express train to Ratmalana so that both airports could be linked.