Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport
Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport මත්තල රාජපක්ෂ ජාත්යන්තර ගුවන්තොටුපළ மத்தல ராஜபக்ஷ சர்வதேச விமான நிலையம் | |||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Owner | Government of Sri Lanka | ||||||||||
| Operator | AASL | ||||||||||
| Serves | Southern Province | ||||||||||
| Location | Mattala, Hambantota, Sri Lanka | ||||||||||
| Time zone | SLST (UTC+05:30) | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 48 m / 159 ft | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 06°17′20″N 81°07′25″E / 6.28889°N 81.12361°E | ||||||||||
| Website | Official website | ||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||
HRI Location of airport in Sri Lanka | |||||||||||
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| Statistics (2021) | |||||||||||
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Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) (Sinhala: මත්තල රාජපක්ෂ ජාත්යන්තර ගුවන්තොටුපළ) (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 third international airport in the country, after Ratmalana International Airport and Bandaranaike International Airport in Colombo.
MRIA was opened in March 2013 by President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Hambantota was the home town of the president which is seen as the main reason for its construction at this location. Initially, several airlines flew to the airport, including SriLankan Airlines which established a hub. However, due to low demand, almost all of these airlines left Mattala by 2018.
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. In 2016, as the airport was not generating enough revenue to pay back the loans, the Sri Lankan government called for expressions of interest to run commercial activities. It was dubbed "The World's Emptiest International Airport" by Forbes due to its low number of flights despite the large size of the airport. In 2020, a newly elected Sri Lankan Government scrapped negotiations with India to run the airport as a joint venture. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the airport saw some increase in traffic due to repatriation, charter, and seafarer flights. In 2022, the government again revived plans to run the MRIA as a public-private partnership as the airport continued to run at a loss. Attempts by successive governments to privatise the airport have failed, and the airport been described as a white elephant project.