Wasteful Legacy

Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport will begin operations on March 18th, with a thrice a week SriLankan Airlines flight from Riyadh scheduled to make a stopover, before arriving at the Katunayake International Airport.
China Eastern Airlines, Mihin Lanka and SriLankan Airlines have confirmed they will serve the airport beginning March 2013. There are reports but no confirmation that Air Arabia, Emirates, FlyDubai, Japan Airlines, Lufthansa, and Qatar Airways are also considering serving the airport. However the new airport’s remote location and lack of connectivity may influence passengers’ willingness to disembark there.
The Open skies policy and lower airport taxes (compared to Katunayake) are likely to have little effect attracting airlines. The government’s influence in requiring both SriLankan and Mihin Airlines to operate flights to the new airport will increase the two airlines’ already high losses.