SL airports facilitates 846,173 int’l passenger movements in Jan.

The passenger figures in January 2024 at Sri Lanka airports indicates a promising growth of the tourist arrivals as Sri Lanka airports had facilitated 846,173 total passenger arrivals out of which 207,182 tourist arrivals (through all airports BIA, (Colombo) JIA (Jaffna) and MRIA (Mattala).

In January 2022, 82,327 tourists arrived in Sri Lanka and it went up to 102,545 with an increase of 24.5 % for the same period in 2023. With remarkable growth, in January 2024, 208,253 tourists arrived in Sri Lanka with a growth of 103% compared to the same period in 2023.Meanwhile, Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) had facilitated 11,801 international tourist arrivals with 102 flight operations (Total passenger movements 23,739). Further, Jaffna International Airport (JIA) had facilitated 3,413 international passenger movements and 271 domestic passenger movements in January 2024. With the current statistics, BIA facilitated 846,173 international passenger movements in January 2024 with an average of 27,295 passengers a day.

Chairman of Airport and Aviation Services Private Limited, (AASL) Eng. Athula Galketiya remarked, “These numbers indicate that BIA is almost reaching the average daily passenger number handled, approximately 29,800, in the most successful year, handling 10.8 million passengers in 2018.”“Furthermore, BIA handled 9.9 million passengers in 2019, with an average daily passenger movement of approximately 27,280 passengers.” Further in response to the growing number of passengers, AASL is in the process of expanding and upgrading the infrastructural capacity at BIA as a short and medium-term solution.

( Source : Daily News)