COLOMBO: Budget airline flydubai has terminated its services to Hambantota in Sri Lanka, leaving the airport in the southern part of the island without any international flights.
The Emirati carrier was serving Hambantota out of Dubai International via Bandaranaike International Airport with B737-800 equipment. The flights have reportedly been both commercially unviable and operationally challenging due to frequent bird strikes at the Sri Lankan airport. flydubai, however, continues to serve Sri Lanka’s main Bandaranaike International Airport.
Following the termination of flydubai’s service, the only airline serving Hambantota is domestic specialist Cinnamon Air, which connects the airport with Dickwella, Koggala, Kotte, and Colombo International Airport using Cessna (single turboprop) 208B equipment.
The Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport in Hambantota has failed to obtain any sustainable traffic since its opening in 2013. The greenfield project was supposed to kickstart the economy in the southern part of Sri Lanka and was nearly entirely financed by the Exim Bank of China. The nearby Hambantota Harbour has also been financed by China and is currently leased to Chinese investors.
Retiring SriLankan Airlines CEO Suren Ratwatte has recently told CAPA that the Hambantota airport would be a white elephant project but would be relatively harmless to the Sri Lankan economy since nearly all costs were borne by China.(ch-aviation)
