President Anura Kumara Dissanayake announced a series of airport projects in the 2027 Budget on Thursday, led by an expansion of Bandaranaike International Airport that is already under way and the long-delayed start of its second terminal.
BIA is handling more passengers than the first terminal was designed for — about six million — and demand is projected to reach 16 million by 2032, the President told Parliament. Work has begun to lift the first terminal’s capacity from six million to nine million passengers a year, funded by a Rs 15 billion investment from Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) Limited (AASL), the Daily Mirror reported.
Construction of the second terminal is “scheduled to commence shortly” with assistance from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
Smaller works at Katunayake
Three further allocations were listed for the BIA site:
- Rs 800 million for a domestic air terminal inside the airport premises next year, to connect arriving international passengers to domestic destinations
- Rs 200 million for a feasibility study on widening the road in front of the airport and building a flyover to ease congestion
- Rs 400 million for a new AASL car park
The government also plans a re-export hub within BIA on a Build-Operate-Transfer basis with private sector participation, to develop the airport as an air cargo handling hub.
Ratmalana and Mattala
Ratmalana International Airport will be developed for pilot training, domestic flights, business aviation and regional aviation. A Rs 6 billion project to rehabilitate and extend its runway from 1,400 metres to 1,771 metres begins in 2027 using AASL funds.
On Mattala, the President disclosed that the airport has accumulated losses exceeding Rs 70 billion since flight operations began in 2013, against construction funded by a US$190 million loan, with losses still rising each year. Expressions of Interest to develop parts of the airport with international partners have been called and concluded, covering airport operations, data centres, food and catering, and aircraft services.
Sigiriya and China Bay
A separate allocation of Rs 100 million goes to Sigiriya Domestic Airport to improve its passenger terminal and other facilities in support of tourism around Sigiriya, the Daily Mirror reported. China Bay Airport will also receive facility improvements in 2027, with AASL meeting the cost.
Sourcing note
Both filings are by the same Daily Mirror reporter from the budget speech. On budget day outlets divide the speech into separate line-item reports, so no second newsroom had filed on the airport allocations at the time of writing; the figures above are as the Daily Mirror recorded them.
Not reported
Neither filing gives a completion date or total cost for the second BIA terminal, names the companies behind the concluded Mattala Expressions of Interest, or says what form the Mattala partnership would take.