Sri Lanka Courts Investment To Expand Airport Infrastructure

HONG KONG—Sri Lanka is seeking foreign investment to upgrade and develop its airport infrastructure, a key part of its strategy to achieve a target of 20.2 million annual visitors by 2030.

Speaking here at the Super Terminal Expo 2025 Air Silk Road Forum, M.A.K. Prasanna, deputy director general of aeronautical services regulation for the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka, said the country is projected to receive 10.79 million visitors in 2025. He emphasized a priority to attract more investment from mainland China and Hong Kong.

Prasanna noted that Chinese traveler numbers reached 368,512 in 2024, accounting for a 4.18% market share. That figure is expected to more than double to 800,406 by 2030. Sri Lanka is a participant in China's Belt and Road Initiative, which facilitates infrastructure and economic cooperation.

A key opportunity for investors is the underutilized Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (HRI) in the country's southeast. Opened in 2013 with capacity for 1 million passengers, the airport has no scheduled commercial flights and only a handful of seasonal charters. Prasanna said the authority is now evaluating a new operator for HRI following a request for proposals.

The government has made 800 hectares of land available for Phase 1 development near the airport, with a subsequent 1,200 hectares for projects that could include a maintenance, repair and overhaul facility.

Meanwhile, in Sri Lanka's capital, the new terminal at Colombo's Bandaranaike International Airport is scheduled to restart construction in March 2026. The project was halted during the country's economic crisis. Upon its planned completion in 2028, the terminal will increase the airport's total annual capacity to 15 million passengers.