Passengers Stranded; Confusion Reigns

The decision of the Bandaranaike International Airport to close at night left thousands of passengers stranded amid confusion over rescheduled flights at Sri Lanka's only international airport Wednesday.

BIA will now be open only from 4:00 am local time (2230 GMT) to 10:00 pm (1730 GMT) as part of security measures following four recent daring nighttime raids by Tamil Tiger aircraft, according to Agence France-Presse.

Several of the international airlines have since restricted operations to daylight hours, but haven't finalized their new schedules. This left thousands of passengers scrambling for seats to fly in and out of the former Colombo Airport.

Airlines have long regarded BIA as a regional hub as well as a key point for travel between Europe and the Far East.

"With the revised timetable, Sri Lanka is now an extension of Maldives. Before that, Male (the capital of the Maldives) was an extension to flights out of Colombo," said Ranjith Silva, director of Superlink Travels.

About 60 to 70 percent of passenger and cargo traffic out of Sri Lanka is controlled by SriLankan Airlines which is partly owned but fully managed by Dubai's Emirates Airlines. The national carrier ceased its nighttime operations a week prior to the airport's schedule change.

Other carriers that have switched to daytime-only flights include Singapore Airlines and Thai Airways. Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific suspended all flights into BIA following the Tiger air raid on April 29 and has yet to resume those services. The military followed suit this week and restricted its domestic flights.

The rebels have been fighting for a separate homeland in the north and east of the island since 1972. They are believed to be operating five Czech-built Zlin-143 light aircraft they smuggled onto the island in pieces.

FMI: http://atcsl.tripod.com/Airport.htm