The Bandaranaike International Airport serves as the first and only International Aiport in Sri Lanka and fondly known among the locals by the abbreviation BIA. The aiport is located in Katunayake which is about 22 miles outside of Colombo, and takes approximately one and a half hours to get there by car.
Its quite common for tourists to meet locals who will interchange its name from the Katunayake International Airport to BIA. However, tourists should be rest assured that its one in the same. The airport is named after the countrys influencial former Prime Minister of the 1950s SWRD Bandaranaike. However, the name came into usage in the 1970s, which was then changed and brought back again into usage in 1995.
The BIA is managed by the governments Airport and Aviation Services body, while it remains as the main operating centre for the countrys national carrier Sri Lankan Airlines. Of recent times the government introduced the countrys own budget airline Mihin Lanka. This airline too, operates from the Bandaranaike International Airport.
During the Second World War the airport actually served as a base for the Royal Air Force, the RAF in Negombo. However, during 1957, when Prime Minister SWRD Bandaranaike ordered the removal of British Military Bases in then Ceylon, the base became the property of the Royal Ceylon Air Force. At this juncture in history, it was renamed as the Katunayake base. Certain sections of the airport to this day still function as an Air Force base.
In the 1960s the countrys then Minister of Communication began structuring a new international airport through the support of aid receieved from Canada. The airport was completed and served as a Trans World Airlines hub from which the national carrier Air Ceylon began its operations.
It was in 2007 that most of the operations associated with the countrys military aviation were shifted to another location close to the airport. While this led the way for more civilian operations, the airport has seen much development. In 2005 an eight aero bridge pier was opened and recently the runway was resurfaced, and in the future it will be expanded and another runway to cater to the requirements of an Airbus A380 is said to be in the pipeline.
Once tourists have landed at BIA, onward transport could easily be arranged since many
Sri Lanka car rental services have a counter at the airport itself to assist tourists. The popular Malkey Rent A Car facility is a
Sri Lanka travel service that offers a comfortable means of travel into Colombo, or to any other destination on ones travel itinerary.
