BCN-43 No more flights from Sri Lanka’s second airport

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ZCZC

BCN-43

SRILANKA-CHINA-ECONOMY-AVIATION

No more flights from Sri Lanka’s second airport

COLOMBO, June 8, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Sri Lanka’s jinxed second international
airport was left without a single scheduled flight from Friday after the only
airline using the remote facility scrapped its daily service.

Dubai’s flydubai gave no reason for the pullout from Mattala International,
built by former strongman president Mahinda Rajapakse and financed with
Chinese loans.

The airport — a five-hour, 250-kilometre (150-mile) drive from the capital
Colombo — is located inside a wildlife sanctuary and smack in the middle of
a migratory route for birds.

Several aircraft have hit birds since it opened in 2013 and two years ago
the military deployed hundreds of troops to clear deer, wild buffalo and
elephants off the sprawling facility.

The airport, which cost an initial $210 million and employs some 550
workers in Rajapakse’s home district, has failed to generate enough business
to pay staff, let alone make a profit.

Rajapakse’s administration had offered hefty concessions and initially
attracted Air Arabia — which pulled out after only a few weeks — and
flydubai.

Even Sri Lanka’s national carrier Sri Lankan Airlines stopped flying to
Mattala in 2015 saying the move saved them $18 million annually.

Mattala will however remain an emergency alternate landing location for
flights heading into Colombo International. Earlier this year the world’s
largest aircraft, the Antonov 225, refuelled there.

Other Chinese investments have also turned sour for the island nation,
leading the government to warn last month of a looming debt crisis as it
struggles to pay back the loans.

Last August, China took over the loss-making deep-sea port of Hambantota in
the south of Sri Lanka on a 99-year lease under a $1.1 billion deal, sparking
particular concern in neighbouring India.

China has also lent other countries in Asia and further afield vast amounts
of money for infrastructure projects being built under President Xi Jinping’s
signature Belt and Road initiative.

In April the International Monetary Fund warned China about saddling other
countries with a “problematic increase in debt”.

BSS/AFP/SR/1845 HRS