One Mile at a Time – It’s being reported that the government of Sri Lanka has initiated preliminary discussions with both Emirates and Qatar Airways, with the intent of offering one of Sri Lanka’s airports as an alternative hub for the foreseeable future.
This doesn’t center around Colombo Bandaranaike International Airport (CMB), the country’s largest airport. Instead, this is about Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (HRI), often referred to as the country’s “ghost airport.” The billion dollar airport opened back in 2013, and unfortunately has seen very little commercial service, so it has been a bit of an embarrassment for the country.
At least the airport now has some additional seasonal service — you can fly Russia’s Red Wings from Chelyabinsk, Kazan, Mineralnye Vody, Samara, Sochi, and Tyumen!
Both airlines have reportedly “expressed strong interest” in moving some of their operations to the southern Sri Lankan airport. Now, it’s anyone’s guess how serious that interest is, but that’s seemingly what the government is claiming.
When you consider the percentage of Emirates’ network that involves moving people from Europe and Africa to Asia and the South Pacific, then you realize the geography of this hub is potentially quite good, as it sits along popular Indian Ocean east-west aviation corridors, and it’s also far south of the current conflict zone.
Sri Lanka hopes that such a setup could provide a vital economic lifeline to the country, especially as the current situation in the Middle East has caused a steep decline in tourism to Sri Lanka, due to flight cancellations.
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