Airport Area Hotels

The airport began as a Royal Air Force base during the Second World War, RAF Negombo. In 1957, when Solomon Bandaranaike removed all the British Military Bases from Sri Lanka (Ceylon), the base was handed over to the Royal Ceylon Air Force (RCyAF) and renamed Katunayake. Part of it still remains an Air Force base.n 1964 Anil Moonesinghe, the Minister of Communications, started the building of a new international airport to replace Ratmalana, with Canadian aid. The airport was completed in 1967, and Air Ceylon, the national carrier, began international operations from it using a Hawker Siddeley Trident and a leased British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) VC-10. The airport was also a Trans World Airlines (TWA) hub for a short time,It was named Bandaranayake International Airport (BIA), after Prime Minister Bandaranaike, in 1970. It was renamed Katunayake International Airport in 1977 but was changed back to Bandaranayake International Airport in 1995.Expansion projects have been undertaken at Bandaranayake International Airport. A pier with eight aero-bridges opened in November 2005.On May 7, 2007 the Sri Lankan Government decided to shift some major military aviation out of the space adjoining the airport to SLAF Hingurakgoda, paving the way to more civilian operations