Matale Rajapaksa International Airport Sri Lanka v1.0
Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) Mattala Rājapakṣa Carvatēca Vimāṉanilaiyam) (IATA: HRI, ICAO: VCRI) is an international airport serving southeast Sri Lanka. It is located in the town of Mattala, 18 km (11 mi) from Hambantota. It is the first greenfield airport and the second international airport in the country, after Bandaranaike International Airport in Colombo.
MRIA was opened in March 2013 by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who ordered the construction of the airport. Initially, several airlines flew to the airport, including SriLankan Airlines which established a hub. However, due to low demand, most of these airlines left Mattala. As of June 2018 there are no scheduled flights from the airport.[2]
Due to the low number of flights, it has been proposed to offer long-term aircraft parking services as well as creating flying schools and maintenance services to be offered from the airport.[3] In 2016 the Sri Lankan government called for Expressions of Interest to run commercial activities of the Airport as the airport is not generating enough revenue to pay back the loans. It has been called “The World’s Emptiest International Airport” by Forbes[4][5] due to its low number of flights despite the large size of the airport. However in 2020, newly elected Sri Lankan Government scrapped the negotiations with India to run the airport as a joint venture
