Colombo: Sri Lanka will deploy a special strike force to keep wild elephants away from a loss-making airport in a bid to encourage airlines to use it, the government said Wednesday.
Media Minister Nalinda Jayatissa said the cabinet of ministers had approved the establishment of a wildlife unit with 18 guards to ensure elephants and other wild animals do not stray onto the runway at Mattala.
The Chinese-funded and constructed airport, located in the home constituency of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa and named after him, has failed to earn enough to cover its upkeep since its inauguration in 2013.
"We are trying to find ways to keep the airport viable," Jayatissa told reporters in Colombo.
The minister said there had been damage to the fences of the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport due to elephant attacks, and the new strike force would help keep wildlife away.
Attempts by successive governments to privatise the US$210 million white-elephant project have failed.
The runway at Mattala was built to accommodate Airbus A380 aircraft, but there are no scheduled flights from the facility, which was meant to serve as an alternative to the main international airport in Colombo.
Smaller domestic carriers also operate charter flights to Mattala, around 200 kilometres (125 miles) southeast of Colombo.
The airport lies on a migratory route for birds, and several aircraft have been forced to abort take offs after striking fowl.
The first foreign airline to operate from the facility was Air Arabia in 2013, but it pulled out after six weeks of scheduled services.
Flydubai withdrew in June 2018 without giving a reason.
National carrier SriLankan Airlines stopped flying to Mattala in 2015 soon after Rajapaksa was defeated. The airline later said it saved $18 million annually by suspending operations to the isolated airport.
Debts to China have been partly blamed for the unprecedented financial crisis that prompted Sri Lanka to default on its $46 billion foreign debt in 2023.
In 2017, unable to repay a massive Chinese loan, Sri Lanka allowed China Merchants Port Holdings to take over the nearby seaport at Hambantota on a 99-year lease.
