Ratmalana Airport

In 1934 the State Council of Ceylon made a decision to construct an aerodrome within reach of the capital city of Colombo and decided on Ratmalana as the best site.[7] On 27 November 1935 a De Havilland Puss Moth flown by Captain Tyndale-Biscoe, chief flying instructor of the Madras Flying Club, was the first aircraft to land at the new airport.

Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) English Electric Canberra B.Mk.20 bomber, A84-202, taxiing to the runway at Colombo-Ratmalana Airport during a refuelling stop in the 1953 London to Christchurch air race

During the Second World War it was used as a Royal Air Force airfield, with No 30 Squadron flying Hawker Hurricanes from there against Japanese Navy aircraft. QEA flew civilianised Consolidated B-24 Liberator and Avro Lancastrian aeroplanes there from Perth, Western Australia, on what was at the time the world's longest non-stop air route. The flight continued after the war with an intermediate re-fuelling stop at the Cocos Islands.

Ratmalana airport at one time had the country's main air terminal, with the Douglas DC-3 Dakota and Lockheed Constellation aeroplanes of Air Ceylon flying out of it. In 1947, KLM flew Douglas DC-4 Skymasters through the airport on the route from the Netherlands to the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia)

In the 1950s, BOAC flew Canadair Argonauts (DC4 with Rolls Royce Merlin engines) from Ratmalana to London.

On 11 August 1952, 3 months after the inaugural service of a passenger jet aircraft, BOAC began its Comet service between Colombo and London. Later (March 1962 - March 1971) Air Ceylon operated a Comet service on this route to London. The airport was also a Trans World Airlines (TWA) destination for a short time in the 1950s.[8]

In 1964, the government decided to build the new Bandaranaike International Airport north of the city, to replace Ratmalana. The new airport was completed in 1967 and Ratmalana handed over all international services to the new airport. Ratmalana was left with the relatively small market for domestic air travel in the country.

In 2012, plans were drawn to relaunch Ratmalana as an international airport, to act as a secondary airport for the city.[7]

Ratmalana airport was declared open for small international commercial flights. The airport is available for commercial jet operations from August 2012.

Bell 412EP at Ratmalana Airport

• Ground Handling
• Immigration Service
• Baggage and Passenger screening as per ICAO Standards
• Quarantine
• Re-fueling
• VIP Lounge
• Aeronautical Information Services

• No. 2 Heavy Transport Squadron
• No. 8 Light Transport Squadron

• On 15 November 1961, Vickers Viscount VT-DIH of Indian Airlines was damaged beyond economic repair when the co-pilot retracted the undercarriage during landing.[10]

• On 7 September 1978, an Air Ceylon Hawker Siddeley HS 748 (registered 4R-ACJ) was destroyed in a fire while parked at Ratmalana Airport. Two pilots had been carrying out pre-departure checkups, when the fire started by the explosion of a bomb in the aircraft cargo hold.[11]

• 29 September 1998 - Lionair Flight 602, operated by an Antonov An-24RV, fell into the sea off the north-western coast of Sri Lanka under mysterious circumstances after departing Jaffna Airport bound for Ratmalana Airport. All 55 passengers and crew members died, including the four member Ukrainian cockpit crew.

• 11 December 2014 - A military ferry flight from Bandaranaike International Airport, operated by an Antonov An-32, crashed into a suburb (Athurugiriya) within close proximity of the runway under poor visibility. The exact cause is still under investigation.