27,295 passenger movements a day on average almost reaching the pre-pandemic levels
208,253 international tourist arrivals recorded in January
13,183 passenger arrivals a day on average at airports
207,182 tourist arrivalsthrough all airports BIA, JIA and MRIA
6,683 tourists a day on average through all airports BIA, JIA and MRIA
COLOMBO : The passenger figures in January 2024 at Sri Lanka airports indicates a promising growth of the
tourist arrivals as Sri Lanka airports had facilitated 846,173 total passenger arrivals out of which
207,182 tourist arrivals (through all airports BIA, JIA and MRIA).
In January 2022, 82,327 tourists arrived in Sri Lanka and it went up to 102,545 with an increase of
24.5 % for the same period in 2023. With a remarkable growth, in January 2024, 208,253 tourists had
arrived in Sri Lanka with a growth of 103% compared to the same period on 2023.
Meanwhile, Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) had facilitated 11,801 international
tourist arrivals with 102 flight operations (Total passenger movements 23,739). Further, Jaffna
International Airport (JIA) had facilitated 3,413 international passenger movements and 271 domestic
passenger movements in January 2024.
With the current statistics, BIA facilitated 846,173 international passenger movements in January
2024 with an average of 27,295 passengers a day.
Athula Galketiya (Chairman of Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) (Private)
Limited),remarked, “These numbers indicate that BIA is almost reaching the average daily passenger
number handled, approximately 29,800, in the most successful year, handling 10.8 million passengers
in 2018. Furthermore, BIA handled 9.9 million passengers in 2019, with an average daily passenger
movement of approximately 27,280 passengers.” Further In response to the growing number of
passengers, AASL is in the process of expanding and upgrading the infrastructural capacity at BIA as
a short and medium-term solution.
