Sri Lanka has only one international airport, Bandaranaike International Airport (CMB) at Katunayake about 37 kms North of  the commercial capital of Colombo. Sri Lankan government key priority is to upgrade the infrastructure at the existing Bandaranaike Airport. The short runway at CMB Colombo Airport smakes it impossible for a fully loaded widebody airliner to depart to Europe, specially during daylight hours.

Sri Lanka needs a second international airport under international air safety rules so flights can be diverted in case of emergency. Aircraft now have to carry extra fuel to divert to airports in neighbouring India or the Maldives if the only international airport in Sri Lanka at Katunayake is closed in an emergency as has happened in the past. The construction of the second international airport in Sri Lanka has become a saga with the abandonment of the Weerawela airport project on environmental grounds.

For the second international airport in Sri Lanka the Sri Lankan government chose a site in the south of the island far away from Colombo on the West Coast as the south east region is in the dry zone not affected by the same weather patterns as the existing Colombo International airport.

The present proposal to locate the second airport in Sri Lanka in Uda Mattala, deep in the south is an ambitious but achievable target. The US$ 220 million project will see a 4,000 metre runway, capable of taking the Airbus A380 which should be in common use by 2013. 

Tourism in these areas, too, would have a major positive impact from the project while Mattala International Airport would also serve as the cargo hub to the East. In addition, the new airport, it is also expected to create a new aviation culture by introducing a domestic air link network. “Special domestic flights are to be launched linking Colombo, Ratmalana, Trincomalee, and Palaly with the assistance of the private sector