Cabinet grants incentives to airlines for tourism boost

The move comes as Sri Lanka’s main Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) is facing difficulties in accommodating all the arrivals.

The tax concessions have been introduced by the Airport and Aviation Services (SriLanka) (Private) Limited with the objective of attracting international airline services for the Jaffna International Airport, Colombo International Airport (Rathmalana), and Mattala Rajapaksha International Airport.

However, those incentives came to an end and had to be extended.

The Cabinet approved to further extend the tax relief to the three airports.

The Cabinet granted “extension of concession of 50% fee waiver from the presently implemented deviation tax for the airlines operating fixed-time flights to Jaffna International Airport till January 30, 2026 while the same was extended for the airlines operating fixed-time flights to Colombo International Airport (Rathmalana) for the period of one year from, March 27, 2025.

For the airlines operating fixed-time flights to Mattala Rajapaksha International Airport  the extension of the full concession was granted for a further one-year period from December 29, 2024. (Colombo/January 07/2025)