The initial congestion caused as a result of the partial closure of the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), Katunayake beginning January 6, has now eased according to the Minister of Tourism Development, John Amaratunga.
The airport is kept closed from 8.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. daily up to April, to carry out resurfacing of the main runway.
Tourism Development Minister John Amaratunga who has been closely monitoring the situation visited the Katunayake Airport on Sunday, January 8 and followed it up with a meeting with airline representatives and Airport and Aviation Services Limited (AASL) officials at his office on Tuesday.
At the airport, the Minister observed first-hand the measures in place to ensure the smooth flow of passenger traffic.
During a meeting at the airport which was attended by the Controller of Emigration and Immigration, AASL senior management, representatives of runway repair contractor, security heads and top officials, the Minister inquired about operational issues and the measures that had been introduced.
The number of counters for check-ins, immigration and also customs has been increased corresponding to the increase in traffic.
“Having spoken to all the officials concerned and some of the passengers themselves, I found that passenger flow was quite smooth and fast getting back to normal.
It must be remembered that with two million tourist arrivals, the airport is operating at 150% capacity, so until the new terminal is ready it’s going to be a very busy airport,” the Minister said. Some of the other measures that have been introduced are queue management, entertainment for waiting passengers, additional seating arrangements, passenger facilitation services in the emigration area and free Wi-Fi for passengers.
“We discussed the feasibility of introducing a separate business class check in area to ease main terminal passenger traffic,” he said.