Sri Lanka's jinxed second international airport was left without a single scheduled flight from Friday after the only airline using the remote facility scrapped its daily service. Dubai's flydubai gave no reason for the pullout from Mattala International, built by former strongman president Mahinda Rajapakse and financed with Chinese loans.
The airport - a five-hour, 250-kilometre (150-mile) drive from the capital Colombo - is located inside a wildlife sanctuary and smack in the middle of a migratory route for birds. Several aircraft have hit birds since it opened in 2013 and two years ago the military deployed hundreds of troops to clear deer, wild buffalo and elephants off the sprawling facility. The airport, which cost an initial $210 million and employs some 550 workers in Rajapakse's home district, has failed to generate enough business to pay staff, let alone make a profit.
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