"The next step will be doing the feasibility study," Director General of Civil Aviation Authority H M C Nimalasiri. "We want to confirm whether the soil, climatic conditions are suitable to build a new runway."
Annual wind direction, relative to the runway, is key to providing safe access to aircraft landing and taking off from the airport.
The Airport & Aviation Services Ltd (AASL), a state owned firm that owns and operates Bandaranaike International Airport has previously conducted a feasibility study for a second international airport in Kuda Oya, also in the South of the country.
The cost of building an alternate runway and basic infrastructure was estimated at US$ 70 mn.
The international airport in Colombo has only one runway. If this is closed for any r