Dubai – Mubasher: Flydubai has announced stopping flights to Sri Lanka’s Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA), which is known as the country’s struggling second airport and the world’s emptiest airport.
The UAE-based flight operator has stopped its flights to MRIA since 8 June due to some commercial reasons, Arabian Business reported, citing a spokesperson as saying.
After Flydubai’s decision, the airport, which was built at $200 million in expenses and could host up to 1 million passengers per year, has been left without passengers.
Clients who had booked tickets were being rerouted and rebooked on flights to Colombo, the spokesperson added.
“The airline had made the request because they said their operations at MRIA are uneconomical,” Ananda Wimalasena, Sri Lanka’s civil aviation authority chairman stated.
Last year, MRIA hosted only 35,000 passengers all coming on flights operated by Flydubai.
