While Guarulhos Airport Receives 123,000 Passengers Per Day, This 1 Billion Dollar Airport Is the Least Busy in the World With Only 10 Daily Passengers; Location Becomes Rice Storage

Written by Alisson Ficher

Published on 19/09/2024 at 03:36

Aeroporto de R$ 1 bilhão no Sri Lanka recebe apenas 10 passageiros diários e serve até para armazenar arroz. Qual o futuro deste “elefante branco”?

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Airport Costs R$ 1 Billion and Has Fewer Than 10 Daily Passengers. Grand Structure Even Stores Rice. A True “White Elephant”!

Have you heard of an airport that looks more like a ghost town? Well, in Sri Lanka, there is a giant that costs R$ 1 billion and receives fewer than 10 passengers per day.

But how did such an expensive and ambitious project become nearly useless? The answer lies in poorly executed planning and expectations that never materialized.

Located in Hambantota, just four hours from the capital Colombo, Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport was built with the promise of transforming the region into a tourist hub.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW

A Ghost Airport

The multimillion-dollar structure, which was supposed to handle thousands of tourists and generate development, is now known as the “most lonely airport in the world.”

With an average of only 10 daily passengers, Mattala Rajapaksa has virtually deserted cargo terminals and check-in counters.

“The quietest place in the world,” as it has been nicknamed, symbolizes one of the country’s biggest planning failures.

Unfulfilled Promises

According to local analysts, the project was funded by Chinese loans and aimed to boost tourism and the local economy.

However, tourists never came. Mahinda Rajapaksa, the president at the time, envisioned hotels, casinos, and other infrastructures to transform the region. But without the promised demand, the place was left empty.

To make matters worse, the high operating and maintenance costs of the airport have been a burden for the government.

With little revenue from flights, the cargo terminals have been rented out to store rice from the region. Yes, a R$ 1 billion airport storing crops!

In addition, the parking lot, originally planned for hundreds of planes, now serves as a garage for unused aircraft.

An Uncertain Future

The fate of Mattala Rajapaksa Airport remains undefined. According to some sources, Indian and Russian companies have expressed interest in taking over the management of the site.

However, details about these possible negotiations have yet to be disclosed. In the meantime, the service counters remain deserted, and the rare flights make the airport look like a monument to the waste of public funds.

Lessons to Be Learned

The “white elephant” of Hambantota raises important questions about planning and management of public projects.

It serves as a reminder that not all infrastructure investments result in economic development, especially when expectations do not match reality.

This case also warns of the risks of relying on external financing for ambitious projects without ensuring the expected return.

And what do you, reader, think about the waste of resources on projects like this? Can Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport still be saved? Or will it continue to be an example of empty promises? Share your opinion in the comments!

2 Comments

most recent

older Most voted

Adelmo Cavalcanti Lapa Neto

#54588

28/09/2024 22:27

Por que 10 pessoas não podem ter que viajar, enquano bilhões tem o direito a mobilidade. Mobilidade é privilégio? Indas e vindas é o grande motor do que se pode chamar civilização.

Respond

Vercy Lourenço ,empresário

#53687

26/09/2024 00:22

Com certeza essas informações serve para muitos de nós ficar em alerta à certas decisões em nossos projetos
e iniciativas,
sabendo que em tudo à riscos e nada devemos fazer por puro impulso , emoção ou ilusão

Respond

While Guarulhos Airport Receives 123,000 Passengers Per Day, This 1 Billion Dollar Airport Is the Least Busy in the World With Only 10 Daily Passengers; Location Becomes Rice Storage

Airport Costs R$ 1 Billion and Has Fewer Than 10 Daily Passengers. Grand Structure Even Stores Rice. A True “White Elephant”!

A Ghost Airport

Unfulfilled Promises

An Uncertain Future

Lessons to Be Learned

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While Guarulhos Airport Receives 123,000 Passengers Per Day, This 1 Billion Dollar Airport Is the Least Busy in the World With Only 10 Daily Passengers; Location Becomes Rice Storage

Airport Costs R$ 1 Billion and Has Fewer Than 10 Daily Passengers. Grand Structure Even Stores Rice. A True “White Elephant”!

A Ghost Airport

Unfulfilled Promises

An Uncertain Future

Lessons to Be Learned

Engineers want to carve through Africa with a giant canal to bring water from the world’s second-largest river to a dying lake on the edge of the Sahara Desert that has already lost 90% of its water.

A giant brown band visible from space, approximately 8,850 kilometers long, connected Africa to America in the Atlantic Ocean, and satellites revealed that it is neither land nor pollution, but the largest accumulation of seaweed in the world, which broke records in 2025.

Instead of burning or burying old tires, an American city is transforming about 2,000 of them into the street itself, paving its first sections with a quieter and more durable rubber asphalt.

In just one cast, fishermen are surprised to capture 14,096 mullets in Bombinhas and close a historic season with 58,000 fish; scene recorded in the Santa Catarina paradise marks the last day of the 2026 season.

Using high-resolution satellite images, archaeologists rediscovered the Egyptian city of Imet, buried for centuries in the Nile Delta, revealing rare multi-story houses, granaries, and a sacred road linked to the cobra goddess Wadjet, from about 2,400 years ago.

Greek island offers free housing for volunteers, but there’s a condition: you need to take care of rescued cats.

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