Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2017-12-19

Improvement of Civil Aviation Operations in the Ratmalana Airport

- Ratmalana Airport was the first airport of the country which was established in the year 1938 for the commercial civil flight operations and it served both domestic and international flight operations until the Katunayake Airport was opened in the year 1969. This airport has a 1,860 meter long and 45 meter wide runway and the land space of the airport is approximately 460 acres. Although vast benefits could be accrued with the promotion of civil aviation operational activities in this airport which is situated in close proximity to the Colombo City, lack of adequate space has been an obstacle for the expansion of its activities.

Therefore, it has been planned to get an extent of 25 acres situated to the South of the Air Port Runway to be used for civil aviation activities and accordingly, the proposal made by Hon. Nimal Siripala de Silva, the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation, for the relocation of the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) facilities on the Southern Side of the Ratmalana Runway in the Northern Side with the consent of the SLAF, was approved by the Cabinet.