The world’s quietest airport cost £162 million to build but only sees seven passengers a day. Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport is an airport serving southeast Sri Lanka. It is located in the rural town of Mattala, 11 miles from Hambantota.
Work on MRIA began in 2009, and full construction cost £162 million, mostly funded by China. President Mahinda Rajapaksa ordered the construction of the airport, which was opened in 2013. A report by the International Air Transport Association claimed that money would be better invested in a second runway at Bandaranaike Airport than a new airport. Aviation experts have claimed that the airport’s runway orientation makes aircraft vulnerable to dangerous crosswinds. Environmentalists have criticised MRIA for being built in an elephant and migratory bird habitat, with 2,000 acres cleared for the site.
Initially, several airlines flew to the airport, including SriLankan Airlines, Mihin Lanka, Cinnamon Air, Air Arabia and Flydubai. However, due to low demand, almost all of these airlines left Mattala by 2018.
Now only Bulgaria Air, Centrum Air, Cinnamon Air, FitsAir, Red Wings Airlines, SCAT Airlines, SkyUp Airlines, and Uzbekistan Airlines use the airport.
The passenger terminal covers 110,000 square feet and can handle a million passengers per year. It has 12 check-in counters and 2 gates.
But according to a Center for Aviation report from 2015, “…the reality is Mattala Rajapaksa International is not needed and is a distraction in SriLankan’s efforts to turn itself around.”
With low flight revenue in 2015, the airport’s unused air cargo terminals were leased to store the rice bumper harvest from the region as well as to provide long-term parking to unused aeroplanes.
By 2016, Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport saw just two flights a week. It now reportedly sees just seven passengers a week.
The future of the airport remains unclear with rumours circulating that a burgeoning India might be willing to take on the site, although this has yet to be confirmed.
Due to its lack of attraction, Sri Lankan politician Maithripala Yapa Sirisena, previously promised to allow struggling airlines to axe its flights to Mattala and scrap its hub at the airport.
