Sri Lanka has decided to fully liberalize a white-elephant airport, an unusual act in this network industry which is riddled with protections for national flag carriers. Taking a respite from the Constitutional matters that preoccupy most Sri Lankans these days, I shared some ideas on the prospects for the fully liberalized airport with a journalist. These thoughts are more fully fleshed out in an op-ed that will appear shortly.
Airlines are usually drawn to airports which give fifth freedoms, or the right to pick up passengers on the way to a third destinations, which is restricted by many countries to give a privilege to – usually – a badly run state-run domestic carrier.
“Fifth freedom rights are valuable where there is are passengers to pick up,” explains Rohan Samarajiva of LirneAsia, a regional think tank based in Colombo.
“Mattala is not near a population base.”
Samarajiva who has been advocating the use of the airport as a regional base for freight says airlines could still be drawn to the airport if costs were attractive enough and there was a window to also open up fresh regional opportunities.
At the moment fuel is trucked to Mattala from Colombo, which automatically push costs up. To bring costs down costs, fuel has to be hauled from nearby Hambantota port where storage has already been built, preferably through a planned pipeline.
2 Comments
Luxman
What do we mean by a white elephant airport? Need for second airport has been disused and accepted since 1990 as far as I can remember. It was not justified on the basis of passenger nos or capacity issue of Katunayake. Areas identified included Weerawila and Hingurakkgoda. Whether Mattala is a justifiable investment depend on successive marketing and promotion efforts and country’s investment environment and micro policy environment
Rohan Samarajiva
It would be helpful to read the article before commenting. It is one thing to have a backup airport (landing strip, control tower, etc.); quite another to build a full-fledged international airport without proper fuel supply in the middle of nowhere. The latter is commercially and operationally flawed, as has been demonstrated by the fact that it attracted only 8 passengers a day despite fifth freedom and below-cost ground charges.
LIRNEasia is hiring: Senior Researcher
LIRNEasia is currently looking to fill the role of a Senior Researcher. The full job description is available here.
Exploring digital platforms for development: Opportunities and policy options to boost take-up and mitigate risks
LIRNEasia conducted a study on digital platform use across six countries in South and Southeast Asia. The working paper provides insights on popular platform types, drivers of and barriers to adoption, and the impact of COVID-19.
Reimagining Sri Lanka’s social safety nets
In our blogpost with Citra Labs, we explore the role digital and data can play in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of social safety nets (social assistance) in Sri Lanka.
Links
User Login
Themes
Social
Twitter
Facebook
RSS Feed
Contact
15 1/2, Balcombe Place, Colombo 08
Sri Lanka
+94 (0)11 267 1160
+94 (0)11 267 5212
info [at] lirneasia [dot] net
Copyright © 2023 LIRNEasia
a regional ICT policy and regulation think tank active across the Asia Pacific