
The World's Emptiest International Airport - kyloren
http://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2016/05/28/the-story-behind-the-worlds-emptiest-international-airport-sri-lankas-mattala-rajapaksa/#77fa67162fdf
======
owenversteeg
For those who can't access Forbes, it's a really interesting article about Sri
Lanka's Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (HRI). It is an enormous
airport that almost nobody goes to has one daily flight and

"a 12,000 square meter terminal building, 12 check-in counters, two gates, a
runway long enough to handle the largest commercial jets, and capacity for one
million passengers per year"

It was funded by Chinese companies trying to invest in large infrastructure
projects, and partly the fault of the dictator of Sri Lanka, who was recently
displaced.

------
kevbin
San Bernardino International may be emptier:
[http://www.scpr.org/blogs/economy/2014/03/26/16181/san-
berna...](http://www.scpr.org/blogs/economy/2014/03/26/16181/san-bernardino-
airport-hopes-for-international-tra/)

~~~
duskwuff
Yes. Holy crap. That's definitely much worse; it's a fully built out
international airport with no passenger service _at all_ , international or
otherwise. (I wonder if that means they have the security checkpoints and
whatnot staffed, or does that only happen after someone moves in?)

Worse, it's half an hour away from another international airport (ONT), which
is already pretty empty. So it seems highly unlikely that any sane airline
would ever start service to SBD.

------
brownbat
Reminds me of the massive bus terminal in Tel Aviv, which is in some ways the
opposite (crowded, but not necessarily with passengers):

[http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/stop-that-
bus/](http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/stop-that-bus/)

------
andrewrice
Too bad Forbes requires you to disable adblock.

~~~
Fej
I'm not sure why anyone submits Forbes articles here anymore.

~~~
galistoca
There should be a blocker for sites with anti-adblock system.

------
fma
I would be willing to fly to it to easily experience being in the middle of
the jungle. If they can develop sustainable eco tourism that would be a boost
for the local economy. Hopefully it would be a trickle that starts a stream of
revenue for the region.

------
raldi
This reminds me of The Tale of Two Bridges:
[http://hintjens.com/blog:16](http://hintjens.com/blog:16)

------
nfriedly
I was half expecting it to name my local airport, Dayton International - the
security line is usually about 6 people or less when I go through. It's a
breeze compared to most other airports I visit.

I think it must have one flight to Canadia or something, I'm not sure how else
it would get the 'International' moniker.

~~~
vgeek
6 people? You must be going during their busy periods.

------
IIAOPSW
heh. Reminds me of the alleged ghost cities of China. Huge development
projects in back waters waiting to be populated. Since China was behind the
investment I wouldn't be surprised if similar mechanisms are at play between
the domestic and international variant of this phenomena.

~~~
ams6110
I this case it sounds like it was more an ego-driven pet project of the former
president.

~~~
IIAOPSW
I stand by my statement.

