The Palali Airport has been named as Jaffna International Airport and will commence opoperations from October 17.
The Transport and Civil Aviation Minister Arjuna Ranatunga forwarded this proposal to Cabinet and the proposal got the nod from the Cabinet for the name change. The International Civil Aviation Organization, (ICAO CODE) code for Jaffna International airport would be VCCJ while the International Air Transport Association (IATA) code number is JAF.
Alliance Air, a subsidiary of Air India and Sri Lankan owned FITSAIR (formerly known as Expo Air), would be the first airline operators in JAF making regional flights to India destinations.
Minister Ranatunga initiated the refurbishment of the JAF last July, while the completion of the first stage would be done by end of October 15.
In addition to the development in JAF, the Batticaloa Airport (BTC) and Ratmalana Airport (RML) too are currently been upgraded to accommodate international flights. Alliance Air has indicated that they are keen to operate flights to Batticaloa.
“With the development of these three airports, with Katunayake and Mattala, Sri Lanka will have five international airports.”
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